Stolen Identity
by MM8712
Summary: Nick meets a girl on a case and is instantly attracted to her. Will he finally succumb to his temptations or will he spend the rest of his life alone? NickOc...rating just bumped up to M.
1. Chapter 1

**I don't own anything from CSI. You know how it goes, you're not stupid.**

**A/N: Hey guys, this is my first CSI fic so please don't hate me if it sucks. I hope you like it though. Let me know what you think. Please review! It inflates my ego. Also, I'm gonna try to update every Friday. I'm trying to write ahead of myself so I already have the next chapter written but I won't post it yet. Thanks for reading!**

As Nick's truck pulled up to the house, he was surrounded by flashing blue and red lights and yellow crime scene tape. It was another night, with another homicide he needed to solve. This job had really started to wear on him lately. He had never felt so alone before, but he had started to realize that he was quickly approaching middle age and still he had never before been in a serious relationship. When he went home, no one was there for him to talk to. He was getting tired of these simple girls he met in bars. There just wasn't enough substance to them. He knew that his time was soon up. He wasn't getting any younger, as his mirror reminded him every morning. He used to enjoy the bachelor lifestyle, but then he had had Warrick to go to the bars with. Now, Warrick was married and he just couldn't justify going out to a bar with Greg. He liked the young CSI, but he just wouldn't use him as a wingman. Here he was again, at another person's house, dusting for fingerprints, swabbing for DNA, chasing a murderer, and trying to not let it get to him.

Nick lifted up the crime scene tape and walked over toward Brass, who was standing there waiting for the three CSIs with his notepad open. Catherine and Warrick followed behind Nick.

"What've you got for us tonight, Jim?" Catherine called out from behind Nick.

"Male D.B. Age 55. Gunshot wounds all over his body. Somebody really did a number on him."

"Any witnesses or suspects?"

"Just the family. The wife was upstairs with their daughter who was here for dinner. Both claim they were upstairs when they heard the gunfire start. Daughter came running downstairs after the shots ceased, saw her father lying on his back, dead on the floor."

"Where's she at now?"

"Over there by the tree. Mom's over by the garage."

"Alright, thanks Jim." Catherine stood grimly on the spot. She hated these cases as much as the next person. The image of Lindsey having to watch her father die in that car crash returned to her head. She didn't know if she would be able to interview that poor girl.

"Warrick, you can take the perimeter, Nick, do you think you can interview the mom and daughter? I'll take the inside."

"Sure." Both Warrick and Nick walked off in their respective directions.

As Nick approached the mom, he felt a tug at his heart. These family cases always reminded him that he didn't have one. He had no idea how these people were feeling, but he would always try to empathize with them.

"Mrs. Hennessy? I'm Nick Stokes; I'm with the Las Vegas Crime Lab. I'm just gonna ask you a few questions. Is that alright?"

She had tears in her eyes and her words sounded choked as she agreed.

"Can you just take me through what happened tonight?"

"I was upstairs with Katie, my daughter; I was giving her some pictures of her we took at her college graduation. My husband was so proud of her. She needed the pictures for a photo album she was putting together for his birthday. I had just handed her a box of photos and that's when we heard the gun shots."

"Do you know how many gun shots you heard?"

"Oh, I don't know. There were so many. Maybe five or six?"

"Alright, thanks. What happened after you heard the shots fired?"

"Katie ran out of the room to go see what had happened. I heard her scream and so I ran out and saw him at the foot of the stairs. He was on his back and his blood—his blood—his blood was—everywhere." Mrs. Hennessy had started to full out cry now.

Nick knew he wasn't going to get anything more out of her at that point. She needed to calm down a bit. He thought perhaps he might have better luck with the daughter.

Nick slowly walked over to where the daughter was supposed to be. As he approached her, he couldn't help but notice that she didn't look a thing like her mother. Where her mother had brown eyes and black hair, the daughter had long blonde hair and light blue eyes. She was standing underneath the tree with her arms wrapped around herself. She looked cold. Her hair slowly moved with the light breeze that was out. She was wearing a tank top and white shorts. _Short shorts_, Nick noted in his mind. Nick noticed how long her legs looked. She was tiny. Short and skinny. He couldn't help but feel a little attracted to her looks. What guy wouldn't?

Now was not the time, Nick thought, to be thinking thoughts like that. Her father had just been killed for goodness sakes.

As Nick approached her, she turned her attention to him. His stomach somersaulted. She was defiantly very beautiful.

"Hi. I'm Nick Stokes; I'm with the Crime Lab. I need to ask you a few questions concerning your father."

"What do you need to know?" She began to rub her hands up and down her arms.

"Are you cold? I have a jacket in the back of my truck if you need it."

"I think it's just more shock and nerves. But thanks all the same Mr. Stokes."

"Please, call me Nick." He didn't know why he was asking her to do that. He supposed he just wanted to feel closer to her. Hearing her call him so formally made him feel awkward.

"Alright, Nick. What questions do you have for me?"

"Oh, right. What can you tell me about what happened here tonight?"

"Well, I came over to have dinner with my mom and dad. I needed to borrow some pictures from my college graduation; I was making a scrap book for my dad. My mom and I went upstairs to get the pictures and my dad went into the kitchen to clean some dishes. We were only upstairs for about five minutes when we heard the gun shots. I waited for them to stop and ran out into the hallway. When I got to the top of the stairs, I saw his body and his blood all over the place at the bottom. I screamed and my mom came running. That's when I called you guys."

"How many shots would you say you heard?"

"Four or five I think."

"Alright. I'm gonna need to take your fingerprints and you DNA and I'm also gonna need to test you for gun shot residue. It's just to eliminate you as a suspect."

"Anything that will help find out who did this."

Nick opened up his kit and removed his SEM. He removed the cap from it and held out his hand, indicating she should do the same. He began to press the disk all over her palm and then all over the back of her hand. He noted how small her hands were. They fit perfectly inside his. She had perfectly manicured nails and very soft skin. He almost felt sorry he was going to have to mess that up with ink soon.

"By the way, I didn't get your name." He had suddenly remembered that he would need to write who these samples were coming from.

"Kaitlin Hennessy. Everyone calls me Katie though. What is that thing you are pressing all over my hand?"

"It's an SEM; Scanning Electron Microscope. It tests for gunshot residue on your hands. If you have fired a gun recently, you will have the residue from the muzzle of the gun still on your hands. This is just a quick and simple way to test for it… Katie."

He lifted his head up and smiled at her. She smiled sweetly back. _Wow, she's beautiful_, Nick thought as he capped the end of the SEM.

_Wait, what am I doing? She's beautiful and I'm smiling at her. She's a suspect in the murder I'm investigating. I've really got to snap outta this. It ain't good._

Nick quickly diverted his attention from her and reached into his kit again, this time for a printing set.

Yet again, he got to hold her soft and small hands as he printed her. When he was finished he reached back into his kit for an alcohol wipe.

"Here, this should remove most of the ink." He handed her two alcohol wipes and again smiled at her. This time she smiled a bit bigger and thanked him. His stomach did another somersault. He didn't like where this was going. He needed to finish this up fast and go back over to her mother or else he might do something more than smile at her.

Nick reached back into his kit for the last time and pulled out a small cardboard box. He opened it and removed the capped cotton swab inside.

"I just need you to open up you mouth for me so I can swab inside for you DNA."

She obligingly opened up her mouth and he rubbed the swab on the inside of her cheek. She had beautiful teeth, he thought. Very white and very straight. He supposed she must have had braces at some point.

"You've had braces?" He asked her before he could stop himself.

"Yeah, when I was a teenager. I guess they worked."

"They did, you've got a beautiful smile." He mentally smacked himself for flirting so openly with her.

Katie didn't mind, however, she actually quite liked it. She was used to getting hit on all day at work, but now that the handsome guy in front of her was doing it, she didn't mind. She looked him over once, noting that he was quite built and that he didn't appear to be much older than she was.

"Thanks," she responded before continuing, "Where are you from?"

"I'm from here." He didn't quite understand what she was asking

"No I mean originally. You have a southern accent. I was wondering where in the south you are from."

"Oh." He mentally kicked himself again for being so stupid.

"I'm from Texas."

"Wow, that's cool. I always wished I could be from somewhere cool like that. Instead I was just born and raised here in Vegas."

"Well Vegas ain't so bad. It gets interesting."

They stood and stared at each other for what seemed like hours, but, instead, were just a few short moments. Nick finally snapped out of his trance and looked over toward the garage where Katie's mother stood. She seemed to have calmed down a bit. He knew now was the time he would have to go over and take her DNA.

"I should go and collect you mother's prints and stuff now."

"Alright, thanks Nick."

He picked up his kit and felt his stomach somersault for the third time upon hearing her say his name. He liked the way she said it.

"Are you gonna be ok?"

He didn't know why he was asking her, it wasn't like he could stay there with her or anything. He had a long night ahead of him collecting evidence. It was a pointless question, but he found himself wanting her to want him to stay with her.

"Yeah, I think I'll be alright. Thanks."

Nick gave her a final smile and wave and walked back over toward the mother, wishing that he could stay back with Katie and her amazing smile.

_Man, you've got a problem_, he thought as he walked away.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: You're not stupid…you know what I own and what I don't.**

**A/N: I know I said that I was gonna try to post every Friday, but I got ahead of myself…lol so please enjoy this and please review! It gives me encouragement to continue to get ahead of myself! Thanks!**

"Hey, Mia, I need you to run this DNA from my 420."

Nick set the evidence down in front of the pretty girl and smiled at her. He knew the power of his smile and was hoping it would get his stuff moved to the top of whatever list she had tonight.

"Dead body? Yeah, I can get to this tonight. What do you need?"

"Just run it against the swab marked unknown. Warrick found it on a beer bottle outside of the house. Rick said none of 'em claimed it, so whoever drank from that bottle might be our killer. I just need to make sure they're both tellin' the truth. Thanks."

Nick moved out into the hall and walked into the break room. He opened up the fridge and pulled out a bottle of water. He unscrewed the top off and drank heavily from it. He still couldn't get Katie out of his mind. He kept picturing her smile, her eyes, her legs… He needed to stop thinking about her. He had mentally kicked himself about a billion times already and Catherine had already laughed at him for calling Katie by her first name at the crime scene. Damn her mother's intuition. She always seemed to know.

He took his hand and rubbed it over his face. He sighed and drained the rest of the water from inside the bottle. He looked over to the trash can near the other side of the room. He stepped back a little and threw the water bottle across and with a small noise, he landed the bottle into the trash can.

"Nice shot man."

Warrick had just entered the break room and was looking at Nick and laughing.

"Yeah?" Nick was surprised; usually Warrick would have said something sarcastic.

"Yeah. My grandpa could've made that shot, but I would congratulate him too."

Nick laughed. There it was. He moved over towards the break room table and sat in an empty chair. Warrick followed suit and sat across the table from Nick.

"That was some girl at that scene tonight."

"What girl?" Nick knew full out which girl Warrick was talking about. Nick just found it better and easier to play dumb and not admit that it was _that _girl he had been thinking about non-stop ever since he had first met her.

"Oh come on man, you know what girl I'm talking about. The daughter or Katie as you like to call her."

"Oh yeah, her. She's alright."

"Alright? Man she's more than alright, she's hot. Did you see those legs? I wish Tina would wear shorts that short. Tina's defiantly got the legs for it."

"Tina doesn't wear things like that?" Even though Nick had met Tina before, he didn't exactly know her. He didn't hang out with her and he had never really seen her more than that one time. As far as he knew, Tina could dress like a hooker or a nun.

"Nah, she's more of the I-wear-pants-all-year-round type of girl. I don't think I've ever seen her wear anything that was above her knees. At least outside of the bedroom."

Nick laughed. He and Warrick hadn't been able to talk like this in a while. Ever since the whole Sara accident, the team had been forced to pick up the work she normally would have done. Grissom had even been taking some time off to go visit her in the hospital. Her condition was improving, but she still had a while to go. She had been stuck under a car after all. With Grissom gone all the time, Catherine had been forced to take up her old position as supervisor, and now with just four people on graveyard at times, the team was pulling doubles every week it seemed.

"So that Katie girl, did you get her number?"

"What are you talkin' about man? She's a suspect in a crime scene I'm investigating."

"You don't really think she did it do you? You and I both know that. Plus I saw the way you looked at her. You couldn't help but smile at her or any mention of her at that."

"You're talkin' crazy, Rick. I wasn't lookin' at her funny or smilin' at her anymore than I was at her mom."

"Yeah, yeah, live in denial, but when you and her get together, don't make me say I told you so."

"You won't have to, cause nothing is gonna happen."

"I gotta ask you man, did something seem different between her and her parents?"

"Different like how?" Nick thought back to how he had noticed the differences between Katie and her mom. He had thought at the time that maybe Katie would end up looking just like her dad, but when Nick had seen the father finally, he sported the same black hair and brown eyes that the mom did. He couldn't quite put his finger on it but something was weird.

"Like, did you notice how she looked nothing like her parents?" Catherine had just walked in and voiced in on what both men were thinking.

"Hey, Cath." Warrick stared at her as she slid into a chair beside him and set a folder down onto the table.

"Just got back from seeing Doc Robbins."

"COD from the gun shots?

"No, believe it or not, the four gun shot wounds were not fatal. He died from a bullet embolism. Third bullet traveled into the vic's venous system and went straight to the heart."

"Anything else probative?"

"Yeah, the vic had some bulbar hemorrhaging. I don't know how probative it is, but is something."

"Can't bulbar hemorrhaging be caused by violent fits of coughing or sneezing?" Nick had finally voiced in. He didn't know how important this bit of news was.

"Yeah, that's why I said I didn't know how important it was. I just though you should know all the facts so you don't bite my head off later if it comes back that it was important."

"Sorry Cath, I guess I'm just a little tired."

"Yeah, I'd be tired too if I had a little hottie running through my mind all night." Warrick couldn't resist adding a comment about Nick's last statement.

"Oh, man, that isn't funny. I said I didn't have a thing for Katie and I meant it."

Both Catherine and Warrick had to laugh. Nick groaned, he had called her by her first name again. If he was trying to convince them that he didn't like this girl, he knew he was doing a bad job. It must have been pretty obvious if Warrick had noticed.

"Look, why don't you both go home, get some rest, and when the DNA results or the fingerprint results get in, I'll page you."

It was now five in the morning as Nick began to head back to the lab. He had been home for about an hour. He had at first tried to sleep but quickly realized it was pointless; he couldn't think of anyone but Katie. She kept running across his mind. Then he began to think of her legs and that's when he became frustrated. It was after about twenty minutes of just thinking of things he would like to do to her, that he noticed how _excited _he had become. It was only after he had finished taking care of his _problem _that Catherine had called him saying he needed to get to the lab ASAP.

As Nick walked into the lab, he found Catherine, Mia, Warrick, and Brass all standing around the DNA lab. He didn't know what was going on, but it didn't look good.

"What's going on in here?" Nick asked and everybody turned to look at him.

"Our 420 just turned into a 418A." Catherine looked excited.

"A found person? Who was missing that we found?" Nick was now more curious than he had initially been.

"Well I ran all the DNA samples that you gave me and it was only after I ran Kaitlin Hennessy's DNA that I noticed it matched another person's in the system." Mia was practically bouncing up and down with adrenaline.

"Wait, so Kaitlin is a missing person? Her parents seemed to know where she was just fine last night."

"No, Nick. There was a case about twenty-five years ago concerning a German couple who came to Vegas on vacation with their five year old daughter. They were at the pool at the MGM when they noticed that their daughter Angelika Lehmann was missing. The case was never solved."

"So Kaitlin Hennessy is really Angelika Lehmann?" Nick was suddenly feeling weird. He didn't know why.

"Yeah, and Brass just brought Kaitlin and her 'mom' in." Warrick knew that Nick would likely bright up at the thought of Kaitlin or Angelika being in the building.

"Kaitlin's real parents are on their way in now from Louisville, Kentucky. They legally moved here in 1990." Catherine was feeling anxious to solve both these crimes, but she was feeling weary at the same time, she knew this would mean more overtime and less time for her to see Lindsey.

As Nick walked into the interrogation room, he saw that same face he had been thinking about for the past few hours. There she was sitting and looking really confused.

"Hi, Kaitlin. I don't know if you remember me, but I'm—"

"Nick. What's going on here? You guys just show up at my house and pull me out at four thirty in the morning telling me there's something important I need to know about. What is so important that you guys couldn't tell me over the phone or at my house?"

Nick wasn't sure how to go about this. She looked tired, confused, but most of all, she looked angry. He would be too if he had been pulled out of his house at four in the morning. Nick was trying to find the words to voice, when Brass voiced in for him.

"Kaitlin, my name is Detective Brass. I have a few questions to ask you."

"You guys already asked me all the questions I can answer back at my parent's house earlier. What other possible questions could you guys have for me?"

"Well these questions are more about you childhood."

"My childhood? Why do you guys need to know about that?"

"Just humor me. How far back can you remember?"

"Well," Kaitlin began to think. There was her tenth birthday party. There was that time when she was turning six and that boy at the playground had pushed her off the slide. There was that time she had been crying. Why had she been crying? She couldn't remember. She just knew that there was a memory she had of herself distraught. She tried to concentrate on that memory. She was young, possibly about five. What was so doing? She suddenly remembered she had been wearing those orange floaties on her arms. She must have been swimming. She suddenly remembered her mom, Amy, grabbing her hand and saying that she needed to go see daddy, _daddy would make it all better_. She could hear her mom's words echo inside her head.

"There was this time, I was at the pool. I don't remember being at the pool, but I must have been because I was wearing those ridiculous orange floaties you put on children to help them swim. I was crying. I was crying pretty hard actually. My mom came up to me and grabbed my hand and started to take me to my dad. She told me my dad would make it all better. That's all I remember and that's as far back as I can remember. I'm guessing something must have happened. I mean I still have a fear of swimming to this day. I guess that's where it stemmed from."

Nick looked down into the file of Angelika Lehmann. She had last been seen wearing her blue and pink swim suit with orange flotation devices around her upper arms. He looked at the picture the parents had provided authorities back then. The little girl in the picture had blonde hair and big, blue eyes. She could've been the sister or daughter of Kaitlin; she looked so much like her. He had a terrible feeling in his stomach. He felt terrible. He knew he was an empathetic person, he knew he had a crush on Kaitlin, but nobody should ever have to go through this. He was thirty five and here she was, five years younger than him. Nick thought back to when he was ten. Suddenly a flashback of little league came into his mind. He remembered looking into the bleachers and seeing his mom and sisters' faces. He had an amazing family who loved him very much. He couldn't even fathom being told one day that the family he had known his whole life, the people he relied on, the people he loved, were not his real family. In fact, they were people who had kidnapped him when he was a toddler and had tried to pass him off as their son for the past thirty years of his life. Here he was, however, getting ready to tell this poor girl that very fact.

"Kaitlin, I have some news that may come as pretty absurd and upsetting."

"What do you mean absurd and upsetting? Where's my mom? This is getting ridiculous. I want to talk to her."

"I'm afraid that's not possible."

"Oh, yeah, and why is that?" She was feeling frustrated. They had just made her recount an embarrassing childhood story to them, told her that they had upsetting news for her, and now they were denying her access to talk to her mother. She looked across the table at Nick for answers, but found nothing but sadness in his face. When he spoke, it was soft sounding.

"Your mom has been taken into custody for kidnapping charges."

"Kidnapping charges? What are you talking about? Who did she kidnap?"

"You." It was a simple statement, but it got an effect. Kaitlin sat back into her chair and scoffed. She couldn't believe what they were telling her now. This was so absurd, they were right about that. She wasn't kidnapped. Her parents were Frank and Amy Hennessy. She was Kaitlin Hennessy, born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada. Her birthday was December 18th, 1977.

"You guys are out of you fucking minds. This is ridiculous. You guys are fucking sick." She was getting upset now.

"In August of 1982, your parents and you flew in from Cologne, Germany. You were staying at the MGM hotel and were swimming one afternoon, when you were kidnapped. You were last seen wearin' orange floatation devices around your upper arm. Here's a picture your parents supplied authorities with at the time."

Kaitlin stared down at the picture. It was most defiantly a picture of her. She knew it. She didn't know anymore. Here they were telling her this horrible story, this horrible, far-fetched story, and yet it all made sense. She had always wondered what had happened to her baby pictures. When she was little she had gone looking for her birth certificate, but couldn't find one. She was always home schooled and never understood why her parents wouldn't let her go to regular school. She had always been curious what event had happened to her in her childhood that made her afraid of swimming, even the sight of a swimming pool made her uneasy. She always knew that she looked nothing like her parents, but she had just attributed it to genetics. She figured somewhere in her lineage someone must have had blue eyes or blonde hair.

Kaitlin looked up from her lap and stared directly into Nick's eyes. She could already feel the tears forming.

"Are you guys playing a joke on me or something? I mean I've been through a lot today and this would be pretty sick if you guys were." It was her last hope, but she already knew the truth.

"I'm afraid not, Kaitlin." Nick looked deeply into her eyes and knew that those were the words she needed in order to break down completely. He quickly got up and ran around the table to grab a hold of her. She wrapped her arms around him and buried her eyes into his chest. She started to cry freely. It wasn't fair. This wasn't fair. She felt so alone. She had nobody as far as she was concerned.

She sniffled and inhaled Nick's smell. Suddenly Kaitlin felt a little less alone as Nick held onto her and let her cry onto his shirt.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: You know… nothing to do with CSI**

**A/N: So I know this is really early, but I had extra time today to post this and I wanted to get it up. Please Review and enjoy! Thanks!**

"What was that Nick?" Catherine had just watched from behind the windows, as Nick had held onto Kaitlin's crying figure. She had always known he was an empathetic person, but she knew where this was headed.

Nick knew it had been wrong. He had been sitting there, watching her, as her world crumbled. This was more than anyone could take or should take in his opinion. As soon as he saw her eyes well with tears, his mind seemed to detach itself from his body. Before he knew what he was doing, he was already kneeling on the floor, holding her.

"I don't know, Cath." It was all he could think of to say. He was wrong and he was getting way too attached to this girl than he should.

"I don't know what to do Nick. I mean, I don't think I need to tell you that what you did back there was more than comforting the victim."

"I know."

"These things happen Nick and it's our job to find out how and why."

Nick stopped in the middle of the corridor. He was lost in his own thoughts, not really listening to what she was reprimanding him on. He was just waiting for her to say the word; to take him off of the case.

"Nick, I've been there. You meet someone, you feel attracted to them, you think you can help them and in the process you end up falling for them harder. I'm not going to stand here and remind you of the repercussions of starting something with a victim; goodness knows I am really not the one to do so. All I am asking you to do is to stop and think about what is more important to you: your job or some girl."

Nick only could stand there as Catherine faded down the hall. She was right, his job was way too important for him to loose over his need for Kaitlin.

Kaitlin slowly walked up the driveway to her house. Her roommate had taken the driveway space and another random car was parked next to it, forcing Kaitlin to park along the street. It didn't really matter; it wasn't like they lived in a bad neighborhood.

As she walked in the door, the sound of her roommate laughing filled the apartment. Inside her roommate, Brandi, was sitting on the sofa with a guy Kaitlin had never met. Brandi was also a pretty girl. She had waist long brown hair. She had hazel eyes and was very petite. Kaitlin had always been a small girl, but next to Brandi, every girl looked fat. She was also tall; Kaitlin hated how tall she was. Brandi had always been boy crazy. Every week she had a new guy with her. Kaitlin had never been that way. She was defiantly a one man type of girl, and she usually laughed at her friend's antics.

Today, however, she just didn't feel like talking. It was a Thursday and she had the night off; all she really wanted to do was go shower, change into a pair of pajamas, and sleep for the rest of the night. Brandi had other plans, though.

"Katie! Where have you been all day?" Brandi had suddenly noticed that Kaitlin had walked through the front door.

"I was out." She didn't much feel like talking to Brandi right now. As much as Kaitlin loved Brandi, she didn't think Brandi was the person to talk to about this.

"Well, duh, I noticed that. Oh my gosh! I am so throwing a party tonight! I invited some of the other girls from work over and Darren is bringing some friends over." She indicated to the guy sitting next to her.

Kaitlin just looked at him and waved.

_Oh, great, a party. I guess I'm not getting any sleep tonight._

"Look, Brandi, I just don't feel up to partying much tonight. I think I'm just gonna take a shower and head out for the night."

"Are you sure? It's gonna be a lot of fun. Lots of hot, single guys."

Kaitlin laughed. "No, trust me; you don't want me here tonight. I'll just be a few minutes and then I'll be gone. I'll find somewhere else to stay."

"Ok…but you're gonna miss a great night."

Brandi then walked back over to the couch and immediately started to make out with Darren.

Kaitlin walked into her bedroom and flipped on the light. It was a relief to be home. No matter how crazy her day had been, it was nice to know she could come home and feel comforted in the fact that this was her room. It wasn't something she could easily explain, but it was familiar territory.

Her room was very simple. The walls were white and her floor was dark hardwood. In the center, was her queen sized bed. It had a simple blue comforter laid on the top. Her walls were adorned with pictures of her friends and next to her bed was a picture of her and Brandi with Hugh Hefner. It was prized picture that she had had to make multiples of for Brandi. By some luck of the draw, she had landed the master bedroom of their shared house, therefore; she had her own shower in her room.

Kaitlin closed the door behind her and walked over into her bathroom. She flipped up the nozzle of the shower and fixed it so that the temperature was warm. She walked back into her bedroom and began to undress. She grabbed a towel out of her closet and walked back into the bathroom. She stepped into the steamed up shower and let the hot water stream down her body. She didn't know what to think anymore. She just felt numb.

Fifteen minutes later, Kaitlin stepped out of the steam filled bathroom. She wrapped the towel around herself tighter and walked over to her dresser. She pulled out a pair of underwear and reached into the next drawer to pull out a pair of pants. She had difficulty pulling the pants up herself, seeing as she was still wet, but all she really cared about was getting out of her house before anybody asked her to stay.

There was a knock on her door and Brandi's voice followed through.

"Hey, Kaitlin? Darren and I are gonna go run to the liquor store to get some stuff for tonight. We'll be back in about twenty minutes. If I don't see you before I leave, have a good night."

"You too." Kaitlin stared at the door, as if she were talking to Brandi directly.

Kaitlin walked into her closet to grab a shirt. She shifted the shirts along the railing and came across a dress that she had worn to her high school graduation. She pulled it out and stared at it. She suddenly began to think about that day. Her parents had been there, clapping for her, and taking picture after picture of her. She remembered the night her "father" had died. She remembered that she had been there to get pictures of her in this very dress. As she held the dress, memories of the day she had just had, came to the front. She hadn't realized it, but she had started to cry. Tears were falling out of her eyes and strolled down her cheeks. She only realized she had started to cry when one of the tears hit the red dress and stained it. Suddenly, Kaitlin felt angry. She was angry that she was letting this get to her. She was angry that her parents had lied to her for her whole life. She was angry that everything was going wrong in her life.

Kaitlin took the dress and threw it to the floor. She stormed out of her closet and took a picture from her wall of her and her mom. She slammed the picture frame into the floor and watched the glass break. She began to take every picture and everything that her parents had every given her, and she threw and destroyed them.

Out of breath, Kaitlin wiped at her face to rid it of tears. She looked around at the mess that she had created. She walked over to her bed, careful not to step in any broken glass, and picked up a pillow from her bed. She held the pillow to her face and screamed. She screamed for every lie her life had been, she screamed for every time her parents had told her they loved her. She screamed until her voice cracked and her throat hurt. She threw the pillow back onto the bed and stormed back into her closet. She took a shirt off of a hanger and pulled it on.

Outside, she breathed in the fresh air. She loved Vegas in the fall. It was comforting for some reason. She walked over to her car and turned the key. She u-turned her car in the middle of the street and sped down to the nearest bar she could find. She was going to drink away today.

Nick sat at the bar, drinking his beer, not paying attention to anything in particular. He had had a bad day. He was falling for a victim and his job was at stake. As much as he tried, he just couldn't get Kaitlin out of his head. He just wished life was less complicated. He sipped his beer again and sighed.

Kaitlin saw the bar from the street. She transferred into the left lane and turned into the shopping complex. She parked her car outside the bar and turned off the car. She pulled up her purse and checked inside her wallet. She needed to make sure she had brought her credit card; she was going to be drinking a lot tonight. She threw her wallet and her keys back into her purse and she pulled her phone out. She held down the power button and waited for the screen to go black. She then threw that into her cup holder. She opened her car door, locked up the car, and preceded into the bar.

The door of the bar opened and Nick shifted his gaze to it. He thought at first that he was imagining things, but he realized that Kaitlin had actually walked into the bar. He stared at her and waited for her to notice him. When she did, she walked over to him and took the seat beside him.

"You having a fantastic day too?" She looked into his eyes, knowing that she wasn't the only one suffering.

Nick snorted and pulled the beer back up to his lips.

"Can I get you a drink?" He looked at her as she nodded her yes.

"I'll have a Bacardi and Diet Coke."

Kaitlin sipped her drink while taking quick glances at the handsome and kind man sitting next to her.

"I wanted to thank you." She had blurted it out before she could stop herself.

"Yeah? For what?" He knew this was a bad idea, but he liked her sitting next to him.

"For being so understanding about this whole situation."

"I'm just doin' my job." He finished the rest of his beer and motioned for the bartender to bring him and Kaitlin another round.

"I don't know. Everybody else looked at me, like, 'Oh poor-kidnapped-girl.' You just looked at me, like, you knew what I was going through. I know you can't possibly have gone through this, but it's like something has happened to you that your co-workers haven't gone through. It makes you more empathetic to people. It really meant a lot to me."

Nick looked over at her and smiled. She was right, he was empathetic. She was also right that he had been through things the others had not. He had been buried alive, stalked, and slept with a woman who he thought he might love, only to find her dead the next morning. He had been molested as a small child and he knew all too well about people you thought you could trust, not being who you thought they were.

"What are you thinking about there cowboy?" She could see the clocks turning behind his eyes.

"I was just thinking. Nothing important." He looked down at his empty drink.

"Let me buy the next round." She motioned for the bartender to bring more drinks. She was starting to feel a little tipsy.

"So, what are the chances that I would run into you here? I mean there are lots of bars in Vegas, I work at one, and so the chance of us choosing the same one is weird." She knew she was rambling, but she didn't want him to leave, she liked his company.

"I live near here. I come here a lot actually." He wasn't meaning to sound curt, but he didn't want her to hear how drunk he was.

"Really? I live really close to here too."

"So what bar do you work at?" He really wanted to keep the conversation moving forward.

"Well, it's more of a club, but I work at the Playboy Club at the Palms."

Nick nearly choked on his drink. "You work there? You're a Playboy Bunny?" He really didn't want her to know how sexy he found that, but he was having trouble hiding it.

She laughed, used to the reaction she had just received.

"Yeah, I used to be an elementary school teacher, but there was more money in being a Bunny, and fewer hours to work. It wasn't even a competition."

"So, what's it like workin' there?" Now he was genuinely interested.

"Well, it's a lot of fun. I've made some really good friends there. My roommate, who I share my house with, she works there too. She's a bartender and I'm a welcome Bunny. I do get some criticism for working there. Like, people always ask me how I can walk around in such slutty clothes or how I can sleep at night because I am practically a prostitute…I sleep well. Girls are walking around town all the time in short skirts and cleavage baring shirts, I do the same thing pretty much, and I just get paid to do it." She finished down the rest of her drink and asked the bartender for another one.

"No, I think that's really hot, actually." He looked at her and smiled again. He felt like he was back in high school and talking to the prom queen.

As the night went on, Nick began to lay off the alcohol, and Kaitlin began to hit it harder. Nick had lost count of how many drinks she had had, but he did notice that she had switched from rum and Diet Coke to straight up rum. He knew she was about two drinks away from passing out.

"Maybe it's time I got you home." Nick walked over to her and offered her his hand. She slapped her hand into his and pulled herself off her chair.

"Oooookay." She drawled. She wasn't seeing straight.

"You are feelin' no pain right now. You said your house was around here? Can you remember where?" He looked at her as he said this and noticed that her eyes widened as he mentioned "home".

"Uh oh. I can't go home. Brandi is having a party and I don't want to be there. I told her I was gonna sleep somewhere else tonight. Maybe you should take me to a hotel. Let's go to the Palms! I work there." She was defiantly drunk. He thought she was cute. He knew it wasn't a good idea, but he had to ask.

"Why don't you just stay at my place tonight? I live right around here; it'll be quicker than drivin' you to a hotel on the Strip."

"Ok, Mr. Stokes. Oh, wait. Nick. _Nick Stokes_. You have a really cool name. Has anyone ever told you that?"

He laughed. Yeah, she was defiantly drunk and really cute.

"No, I don't believe I've ever heard that before."

"Well it is. It's kind of like stoked. Like every time I see you, I'm so _stoked_ to see you. Only because you're really nice though. I don't just like you for your looks." She laughed and hopped off of the curb.

The two of them approached Nick's truck and after unlocking it, he opened the door for her. She laughed as he helped her into the truck and shut the door after her. He ran around to the other side and hopped inside himself. He turned on the ignition and Kaitlin immediately reached over to the radio.

"Ooh, we've gotta turn it to 97.5. It's not that I like the music they play, but I do feel like dancing."

She reached forward and turned up the volume. Nick laughed next to her as she began to drunkenly dance in her seat. He noted that, even though she was completely hammered, she could still dance really well.

As he pulled into his driveway, he turned off the ignition and turned to her.

"Ok, Katie, we're here." He reached over and unbuckled his seatbelt and opened his door. He walked over to her door and helped her out.

With his arm around her waist and her arm around his shoulder, he helped her up the pathway to his front door. He fumbled in his pocket for his keys and once he found them, he unlocked his door.

Walking in his front door with Kaitlin, his mind began to think. As bad of a situation he had put himself in, he knew he needed to right it. He looked at his couch and then over at the beautiful girl he had his arm around. He mentally laughed at how this situation had transpired a lot differently in his dreams.

"Let me show you to the bedroom. You can take my bed, and I'll take the couch." He started moving again towards his bedroom.

He opened his bedroom door and sat Kaitlin down on his bed. She looked up at him and frowned.

"You're not gonna sleep in the bed with me, Nick?" She whined.

"I don't think that's such a good idea, Kaitlin." He looked down at her.

Kaitlin slowly stood up and looked Nick directly in his eyes. He noticed how blue they looked right now.

Kaitlin placed her hand onto his chest and began to move it up and around to his back. She leaned forward and began to kiss his neck. She lightly kissed and licked her way up to his jaw where her mouth settled onto his lips. He began to kiss her back and she slowly opened her mouth when she felt his tongue press against her lips. Nick reached around and placed his hand onto her hip, pulling her body closer to his. He could feel her pressing into him; he could feel how warm her body felt. Her lips continued to work his. Kaitlin moaned as she felt his hand move down to grasp her from behind. She needed more. Kaitlin pulled Nick by the collar of his shirt and pushed him back onto his bed. She rested herself on top of him.

Suddenly, Nick pulled back, rolled her over and climbed off of the bed. He looked down at her, lying on his bed. Kaitlin propped herself up on her elbows and looked up at Nick, confused.

"What's wrong?"

"We can't do this." It was a simple answer that he gave her. He hoped she would understand.

"Why? This feels right Nick. I need this." She looked up at him, tears in her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Kaitlin." He turned and walked out of his bedroom, closing the door behind him.

"Fine!" She shouted through the door. She fumbled for the covers on his bed and pulled them up to her chest. As she lay there, she cried herself to sleep.

Behind the door, Nick stood there, breathing heavily. He closed his eyes and sighed. He looked down and noticed his problem. He took his back off the door and walked into the bathroom to relieve the problem. Then he walked over to his couch and fell asleep, hoping that she wouldn't be as angry with him when she awoke. He needed things to stay platonic between them; he still had a case to solve involving her.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from CSI, I do own Brandi, Kaitlin, and I don't own the story behind Nick having that many Brothers and Sisters, but I did make up their names and ages.**

**A/N: Okay, so I have finally decided that there isn't really a timeline at all to this story. I kinda am just gonna post them whenever I feel like it. I try to have the next chapter ready before posting any chapter, so I have chapter 5 written and will be posting it once I get chapter 6 written or whenever I get enough reviews to make me feel in good spirits ::hint hint:: So please enjoy this chapter…Thanks to people who review, you spark up my day. **

* * *

She awoke to the smell of bacon. She instinctively rolled over and ran her hand over the spot next to her. She immediately knew she wasn't in her bed. The sheets felt different and since when had Brandi learned to cook? She slowly opened her eyes and looked around the room. She knew she was in a guy's room judging by the decorating scheme or lack thereof. She steadily sat up in the bed and tried to remember whose room this was. She couldn't remember much of last night. She tried to think of what she could remember, but it was hard because her head felt like a jackhammer and a chainsaw were fighting.

_Where am I? _She tried to concentrate on what she remembered. She remembered coming home and talking to Brandi. She remembered going out to the bar.

_Who did I meet there? _She tried to put a face in her mind and like lightening, Nick's face came up. She remembered now. This was Nick's bedroom, but how she had ended up here, she couldn't remember. She turned to look at the spot next to her in bed. That part of the bed was still made. So, she hadn't slept with him last night. She was half disappointed and half relieved. She guessed that he must be in the kitchen right now making bacon.

She hated when she got this drunk. She always felt like she might have done something to embarrass herself. She could only hope that she hadn't done anything embarrassing last night.

She pulled back the covers and swung her legs over the side of the bed. She was still dressed; only more proof that she hadn't slept with Nick last night. She stood back and began to make the bed. When she was finished she walked into his bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror. Her hair was a little disheveled, nothing she couldn't fix with some finger combing. She thanked herself for not having worn lots of makeup the night before, because it hadn't gotten all over her face. She laughed as she thought of a time she had fallen asleep right after a shift at work. She hadn't showered or removed her makeup, and when she awoke her eye makeup was everywhere, including her pillow.

* * *

Nick woke up early. He hadn't slept that much the night before. He sauntered into his guest bathroom and turned on the shower. He could feel the grimy bar feeling on himself. After he got out, he walked into his laundry room and pulled out a pair of pants and a shirt as well as some underwear. He was thankful that he hadn't put those clothes away yet, or else he would have to spend most of the morning in his underwear from the day before.

He walked into his kitchen and opened the fridge. He saw that he had eggs and bacon. He pulled them out and set them on the counter. He walked over to his pantry and pulled out a box of pancake mix. He walked back over to the fridge and pulled out the milk. He thought about Kaitlin, asleep in his room. He knew she would probably be hung over this morning and he wanted to make her something good for breakfast. He always used to go get pancakes with his buddies back in his frat days. He pulled out the skillet and reached under his counter to pull out the griddle. He began to heat both up and started to cook.

It was about ten minutes after he had started to cook, that he heard a toilet flush. He laughed as he thought that bacon was an excellent alarm clock.

His mind wandered to the night before. He was nervous, and he hoped that she wouldn't still be angry that he had stopped whatever that was last night. He sighed and flipped the pancakes on the griddle over.

* * *

Kaitlin walked out of the room and down the hall. She turned the corner and found him with his back to her in his kitchen. She stood there and watched him for a second as he flipped a pancake. She had a strange memory of when she was little. She was in a kitchen with a man. He was older, around 30 or so. He was standing in the kitchen and he was looking at her as he flipped a pancake, or what looked like a pancake. He was speaking to her, but it wasn't English. It was strange, but she understood what he was telling her. He was telling her how much he loved her. She shook her head, trying to escape the memory she was in. She found that after she had had an extremely tiring night or an alcohol influenced night, she would have random memories she couldn't place. Now that she knew she had been kidnapped, she figured that these must be memories from her old life. She didn't want to think about that right now. Her head still hurt and she didn't want to muddle it anymore with thoughts from something she couldn't place.

Nick finally noticed that Kaitlin was standing behind him. He turned around and smiled at her. She smiled back and began to walk over to him. She didn't look very angry, but it was hard to tell with women; they were always so cryptic.

"Hey there, sleepy head." Nick smiled at her again as she took a seat at his dining table.

"Hey." She croaked.

"How are you feeling?"

"Like an M80 just exploded in my brain."

He laughed as he knew all too well what she was going through. He walked over to his cabinet above his microwave and pulled out a bottle of aspirin. He walked over to his fridge and pulled out a bottle of water and put both down on the table she was sitting at.

"Thanks." She said. She opened the bottle and poured four aspirins into her hand and put them into her mouth. She uncapped the water bottle and downed the pills. She continued to sip her water and then turned her attention back to Nick, who was putting pancakes and some bacon onto a plate.

"So, can I ask you a question?" She looked at him hopefully.

Nick suddenly stopped what he was doing and looked at her. Here it was, she was going to talk about what happened last night. He wasn't sure if he was ready to talk just yet. While he had enjoyed kissing her, he also knew that it wasn't such a good idea.

"Sure." He looked into her eyes and saw that she looked concerned.

"I can't really remember too much from last night. The last thing I remember is running into you at the bar. In fact, it took me about five minutes this morning before I remembered where I was. I'm just wondering if I did anything last night to embarrass myself."

He thought about it. He felt glad that she couldn't remember last night, but he wasn't sure if he should fill her in on all the details.

"No, you didn't. You were defiantly _very _drunk, but you didn't do anything embarrassing."

"Really? Like, I didn't try to make a move on you or anything last night, cause when I get drunk, I tend to get a little flirtatious."

"No. Nothing happened." Nick felt bad about lying to her, but he supposed it was all for the best.

"Ok, good. I can't even fathom putting you through that."

Nick laughed. It was a fake laugh, but he wanted his lie to sound as believable as possible.

"You did put on a nice show for me in my car last night." He smirked and looked back up at her.

"Oh, God. I did? What do you mean?" She groaned

"Well as soon as you hopped into my car, you insisted that we listen to 97.5 so you could dance." He genuinely laughed now, remembering her in his car.

"Oh no. That is something embarrassing. I'm so sorry you had to sit through that." She was laughing now out of embarrassment.

"No, it's okay. You looked really cute."

She looked back up at him and smiled while shaking her head.

_Did he just call me cute? No, he was just trying to make you feel better. He's really good at that after all._

Nick walked over to the table and set the plate of food in front of Kaitlin. He also set a place for himself. He took his seat and began to eat.

"You didn't have to do this. I could've just gone home and passed out."

"No, it's alright. I was raised better than that. Plus, I always make pancakes for women who dance for me." He laughed as she scrunched up her face.

"Hey, do you have peanut butter? I love peanut butter on my pancakes."

Now it was his turn to scrunch up his face. "No. I hate peanut butter. Never carry the stuff."

"You hate peanut butter? What planet were you raised on?"

He laughed. "Well I don't know about planet, but I'm from Texas."

"So people from Texas don't eat peanut butter?" She looked at him incredulously.

"No. In fact my sisters used to hold me down when I was little and force feed me peanut butter. They thought it was funny I guess."

"That's cute. How many siblings do you have?"

Nick took a deep breath. "Well, I have five sisters and a brother."

"Wow, that's a big family. What are their names?"

"Well there's Michael who's 51, there's Linda who's 49, there's Theresa who's 47, then there's Amy who's 45, there's Patricia who's 43, and then there's Lily who's 42."

"Wow, I bet your house was never quiet." She laughed. She had only ever been an only child. Suddenly a lump rose in her throat as she wondered if her real parents had any other children.

"No, it wasn't." Nick looked at Kaitlin. He didn't know what she was thinking, but she looked like she was somewhere else.

"What are you thinking about?" He questioned her.

Kaitlin snapped out of her thoughts and turned her attention back to Nick.

"I was just thinking about my real family, you know? Like, I was wondering if they had any other children, besides me. I've always been an only child."

Nick felt an instant pang of guilt. He had been so stupid, sitting here talking about family.

"Katie, I am so sorry for talking about, you know, this."

"No, don't be sorry. It kinda helps to talk about it."

"So, are you alright?" He looked at her apprehensively.

"I don't know. Part of me wants to go lock myself up in my bedroom and just never come out again. Then there's another part of me that is telling me to be stronger. I guess maybe I should kinda listen to both."

There was a long pause of silence as both of them ate. Nick thought back to when he had been buried alive. He thought back to how he had felt the day he was released from the hospital. He had come home and just locked himself in his bedroom. It was about a week later that he realized that he needed to get his self-pitying-ass out of bed and go on with his life.

"You know what's weird? All my life, I have understood German. Some mornings, I would wake up and just start speaking it. Those occurrences became less and less as I got older, but I can still understand it. I also have these memories sometimes, that I can't place. Like this morning when you were in the kitchen, I got this random memory in my head or a man making something that looked like a pancake. I never used to think much of 'em. I just figured they were from a dream I had had. Now, though, I don't know. You wanna hear something really horrible?"

Nick looked at her. He defiantly knew what talking about the situation could do, and he was glad that she trusted him enough to talk to him about it.

"What?"

"I was just thinking about the name you told me was my real name. Angelika. I was just kinda thinking, I hope that this is just cause to keep my name Kaitlin because the name Angelika is horrible. How selfish is that?"

"It's not selfish at all. You're just focusing on the positive side, which is good. It's what I did after I was…" He cut himself off. He had almost revealed to her that he had been buried alive. It wasn't like he didn't trust her; it was more that he just didn't tell anyone anymore. Nobody at work talked about it either. He just chose to ignore it, but every morning when he woke up, he knew he was lucky to be alive. He didn't feel like dumping that burden on her.

"After you were what?" He had been about to tell her something, but had stopped. She was confused.

"It's nothing. Just a family death." He hoped that she would drop it. She did.

Kaitlin got up and walked into the kitchen with her dish. She began to do the dishes.

"You don't need to do that you know?" Nick felt bad that she felt the need to clean up everything.

"No, you made breakfast and this is the least I can do. You go watch TV or something."

After all the dishes were complete and in the dishwasher, Kaitlin decided that she needed to get home. It was only then that she remembered that she didn't remember how she had gotten to Nick's house.

"Uh, Nick? How did I get here last night?"

"I drove you. Why are you ready to go?" He turned off the TV and walked over to her. He had forgotten all about that little issue. It had just felt so natural having her in his house.

"No, don't worry about it; I'll just call my roommate to come get me."

As she reached for his phone, he put his hand out to get it first.

"I'll drive you, no matter what you say."

* * *

Outside the bar, Nick and Kaitlin stood outside of her car. She was standing with her back to her car with Nick right in front of her. Neither one of them really wanted to say goodbye to the other, but both knew that they needed to.

"Well, I guess I should let you get home." Nick looked at her straight on and waited for whatever she was going to do.

"Yeah. Thanks for everything, Nick."

"Your welcome. I'll see you later."

As Nick turned to make his leave, Kaitlin called out for him to hold on. She reached into her purse and wrote down her cell phone number and her name. She handed the paper to Nick and hugged him.

"Call me sometime, ok?" Kaitlin didn't wait for an answer. She turned and opened her car door, sat down, and closed it again. Nick stood by, watching, as she sped off to go home.

Nick sighed and turned to head back to his truck. Once inside, he looked down at her number and smiled. He supposed it wouldn't be a bad idea to be friends with her. After all, he had finally met someone who was probably more messed up than he was.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything to do with CSI. If you don't know that, then I'll pray for you.**

**A/N: So this chapter is mainly about the friendship between Brandi and Kaitlin. There isn't really any Nick and Kaitlin in this chapter. Sorry. The rating has been bumped up to M because of some mention of sex and some language. Next chapter it will get worse and only more mature after that, so I am just covering my butt here. So please review and please enjoy it! Your humble author.**

* * *

Kaitlin walked into her house and looked around. There bottles everywhere. There were bottles of tequila, rum, gin, vodka, beer, and whiskey. The last bottle she saw confused her. Who had been drinking whiskey? She had only known one other person who drank Jack Daniels and that had been her ex-boyfriend. 

She dropped her purse by the door and walked into the kitchen. Luckily the mess had been somewhat contained to the kitchen. She sighed and began to throw away bottles. Some of the bottles were still half full and she capped those and placed them in the fridge. Once all the bottles had been thrown away she saw a Styrofoam cooler sitting on the dining room table. When she took the top off, the smell of alcohol was strong. There was a red liquid sitting inside and Kaitlin knew instantly what it was.

Brandi walked into the dining room, her hair disheveled and her make-up all over her face. She ran her hand through her hair as best she could and looked over at Kaitlin, putting the lid back onto the cooler.

"Hey, Barbie." Brandi walked over to the dining table and stood beside Kaitlin.

"Hey, Teresa." Kaitlin looked up at Brandi.

They had always called each other by those nicknames ever since the first day that they met. Brandi always thought Kaitlin looked like a Barbie doll and Kaitlin always thought Brandi looked like Barbie's sister or cousin Teresa.

"Hey, Brandi, who made the jungle juice?" Kaitlin indicated the cooler sitting before them,

"Oh, Matt did. He thought it might be interesting to mix every single type of alcohol together to see what it would taste like. That's why I look like this right now. Very bad idea on his part, although; I guess I should've known it was a bad idea when he wasn't drinking any of it himself."

"Matt was here?" Brandi nodded her head.

"Like, my Matt? Matt Jacobs?" The one I went out with for almost three years?"

"Well, technically he isn't _your _Matt anymore, but I think he would let himself be _your_ Matt if you wanted, and yes he was here last night."

Brandi lifted the heavy cooler off of the table and walked with it into the kitchen. She set it onto the newly clean counter top and then looked up at Kaitlin.

"Now, don't give me that look, I didn't invite him over." Brandi responded to the look Kaitlin was now giving her.

"Well then, what the hell was he doing here last night?"

"I don't know, he just showed up. He was probably here looking for you. Besides, what's it to you if I hang out with Matt? It's not like I'm gonna be hooking up with him or anything."

"I don't know why I care so much. I guess it's just weird."

"Well, he was our friend before the two of you decided to get together."

"I know. I just can't look at him the same after what I did to him."

"It's not like you freakin cheated on him or anything; you just told him you didn't want to marry him."

"Yeah, exactly! How would you feel if the guy you loved asked you to marry him and you told him no. I mean we were at that age when you're supposed to get married. People who are 27 get married! They don't continue to get drunk every night, play beer pong till six in the morning, smoke hookah, or experiment with jungle juice. We are supposed to be married, having children, working real jobs! I mean we're thirty fucking years old, and this house looks like it belongs to a fraternity!"

"Woah, woah, woah! What they hell is up your ass this morning? Where is all this coming from?"

Brandi walked out of the kitchen and toward the dining room table. She took Kaitlin by the hand and sat her down. She looked her in the eyes and instantly knew something was wrong.

"How long have we been friends?" Brandi knew the answer, but she was trying to make a point to Kaitlin.

"Uhmm, since we were 17."

"Exactly. Now, knowing that, why would you try to hide something from me?"

Kaitlin looked up at Brandi. How could she know? They didn't have a house phone, and she was pretty sure that Brandi didn't know anyone from the LVPD.

"How did you know I was hiding a secret?"

"I've known you forever, Kaitlin. I know when you are hiding things. Everytime you have something bothering you, you just yell about something else that doesn't really bother you. You have always done that. So, besides the fact that you think our biological clocks are ticking, what's wrong?"

Kaitlin took a deep breath. "You know how my father died the other day right? Well I got called into the station yesterday to answer some questions they had. I thought it was just to wrap up loose ends or something, but it wasn't. They basically told me that when I was younger, my alleged parents, kidnapped me from my real parents."

Brandi let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. She looked at Kaitlin and didn't know what to say. That was some deep shit Kaitlin had going on.

"Wow, and I thought the biggest worry of your life was that time you thought you were pregnant." Kaitlin laughed at Brandi's joke.

"Hey, look at me. I love you, ok? I may not know what the hell to do right now, but you can always tell me things like this."

Kaitlin nodded.

"So, do they know who your real parents are?"

"Yeah, I'm supposed to meet them sometime. They live out in Louisville and they are on their way down here right now."

"Wow. So let me do this whole friend thing right now. You're gonna be okay. You are gonna get on with your life because you are an amazingly strong willed girl. Whatever you need, I'll be there for you. As for the whole Matt mess, you weren't ready to get married yet. Maybe you loved him, maybe you didn't, but who knows. There is no set age for marriage, and people our age aren't having kids or else there wouldn't be as many men for me to sleep with. When it's time for you to get married and increase the number of annoying rascals in this world, you'll feel it. Also, beer pong is a very fun game and the reason we have to play it till 6 in the morning is because it takes me until three to get drunk enough to where I kick ass at the game. Hookah is a great way to chill out and relax. However, you are right about the jungle juice thing, that was a bad idea. I'd empty that thing out if it didn't have four different bottles of alcohol still in it"

Kaitlin laughed. She didn't know why she felt she couldn't talk to Brandi. She supposed she was just in a crappy mood yesterday. After all, taking out her anger on her pictures was much better than taking her anger out on Brandi.

"So, what did you do last night, emo girl?"

"I destroyed most of the pictures in my room, then I went out and got dead drunk at a bar."

"You didn't destroy the picture of us and Hugh Hefner did you?"

"No." Kaitlin chuckled.

"Well, that sounds like a fun night. Did you meet a guy or anything at the bar?"

"No, well just this cop guy who is investigating my kidnapping and my kidnapper-dad's murder."

"Did you fuck him?"

"What?"

"Well, did you have sex with him?"

"No! Why would I do that?"

"Is he ugly? Is that the problem?"

"No! He's actually really good looking."

"So what's the problem?"

"The problem is, is that he is investigating my case. I can't sleep with a guy who is doing that. First off, I think it's illegal and second, I don't just have sex with random guys."

"Oh, right that's me." Brandi laughed remembering her many conquests.

"You know, Kaitlin," Brandi lectured coming out of her memories, "Having sex with a hot guy always makes me feel better about my problems."

"Is that what last night was about?"

"Oh, no. Last night was him being hot and me being needy. Last night was fun." Brandi stated with a smile on her face.

"Oh, yeah? That good, huh?"

"Are you that deprived from sex that you need to hear about my flings?"

"No, I was just curious."

"When was the last time you had sex by the way?"

"That's none of your business." Kaitlin blushed. She stood up and began to walk toward her bedroom hoping Brandi would drop the subject, but Brandi just followed her toward her room.

"Was Matt the last guy you had sex with?" Brandi wondered. She hoped not. That had been three years ago.

"Why does it matter to you?"

"I'm just wondering if I need to get you laid or not." Brandi stated matter-of-factly.

"Look, I'm fine. Don't worry about my sex life, and just drop the subject. Why don't you go take a shower and I'm gonna clean my room."

Kaitlin stepped into her room and closed the door behind her.

* * *

Nick stepped into the cold halls of the Las Vegas Crime Lab. He had just finished changing in the locker room and he was ready to get to work. 

Nick walked into Grissom's office and looked upon the tired looking man in front of him. Grissom peered up at Nick and sighed. Nick knew this wasn't good.

"Is everything ok, Gris?"

"It's nothing. I'm just tired."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

Nick knew his boss was hiding something, and he guessed that it probably had something to do with Sara.

"So what's going on with the Hennessy case?"

"Mia couldn't match the beer bottle to either of the female inhabitants of the house and the DNA she did find on it came back unknown."

"Did you pick up any fingerprints off of the bottle?" Grissom questioned Nick, hoping that there would be some break in the case.

"Yeah, Warrick dusted for prints and found two. One came back to the wife, and the other came back unknown, probably from the same person the unknown DNA belongs to."

"Well, are you bringing the wife in?"

"Brass is bringing her in from the holding cell she's temproraily been placed in."

"Well, go in there and find out what her prints are doing on that bottle."

"I will." Nick said as he stood to walk toward the door.

Nick walked into the interrogation room, where Brass was standing in the corner and Kaitlin's "mom" was sitting in a chair. Nick closed the door and walked over to a seat across from her. He set his folder down on the table and looked up at the woman.

"Mrs. Hennessy, I'm Nick Stokes, I'm with the Las Vegas Crime Lab. I just have a few questions concerning your husband death."

"Please, call me Amy and ask any question you want, I don't have anything to hide."

Nick snorted as he thought about the fact that she had hidden that she had kidnapped her daughter.

"Well, now, you did hide the fact that you had kidnapped your daughter."

"In my eyes, we didn't kidnap her."

"Well, in your eyes, what did you do?"

"Mr. Stokes, are you married?"

"This isn't about me." He stated harshly.

"I'll take that as a no. Well, my late husband and I couldn't have children. Both of my fallopian tubes were blocked and there was nothing we could do about it. When we saw Katie, we just knew that she was what we had always wanted. She looked so beautiful and perfect. Her parents weren't around and so I walked up to her and just took her with me."

"It sounds an awful lot like kidnapping to me."

"Well, not calling it kidnapping helps me sleep at night."

Nick scoffed.

"I love my daughter, Mr. Stokes. She is smart, beautiful, and a very resourceful girl. She is going to be fine, and when the time is right, she'll understand what I did."

"I highly doubt that she'll understand, but that's not why we're here."

"So, why don't you quit pussyfooting around and talk about why we're here."

"We found a beer bottle near the backdoor to your house. We asked you if it was yours and you denied it. So, I'm gonna ask you again, is this your beer bottle?"

Nick slid the picture of the bottle across the table to her. She stared down at it, and shook her head.

"No, that is not mine." She smiled back at him.

"Well, we found your prints on the bottle. Care to explain that?"

"I can't." She stated simply.

"Well, your prints ended up on that bottle somehow."

"Well, that beer did not come from my house. My husband was the only one who drank beer, and he only drank Bud Light. That beer is a Miller Light, my husband hated that beer." She said this sentence as if it would settle the matter, but Nick wasn't convinced.

"Ma'am, I think you know damn well how that bottle got into the backyard. Did you need a little courage before you decided to shoot your husband?"

"You can ask my daughter, I was upstairs with her when he was shot."

Nick remembered that this had been true. When he had taken Kaitlin's statement at the scene, she had said that the mom was upstairs with her. He sighed.

* * *

"So, how did it go with the wife, Nick?" Catherine looked up from the table they were all sitting around. 

"Not good. She claims she has no idea how her prints got on that bottle."

"Do you think she did it?" Warrick asked looking over at Nick.

"I don't know, man. When I took her statement and Kaitlin's at the scene, they both agreed that they were upstairs together when Mr. Hennessy was shot. There is no evidence against it."

"Well, it still doesn't mean she didn't have a part in it somehow." Greg piped in.

"No, it doesn't. So why don't you all go home for the night, because we're not gonna get anywhere else on this today. I'll see you all back here tomorrow, except you Nick."

"What? Why?" Nick was confused as to why she was singling him out right now.

"Tomorrow's your day off. I'm not gonna call you in unless we absolutely need you. Enjoy your night off, Nicky." Catherine winked at him. She chuckled as she walked out of the layout room.

Nick stood there staring at the bright table. He sighed as he remembered that tomorrow really was his day off. He felt glad. He really did need a break from all this. It was physically draining him, and he felt a strong emotional connection to it. He knew that was because of his feelings for Kaitlin.

He jumped as he heard his cell phone go off. He looked around the room for it, only to realize he still had it clipped to his side. He pulled it off and checked the caller ID. He knew the number even though it didn't have a name. He had sat all morning memorizing that number. _How did she get my number?_ He thought as he flipped open the phone.

"Stokes." He stated casually, pretending not to know who was on the other side.

"Hey, it's Kaitlin. How are you?"

"I should ask you that."

"I'm alright. As good as to be expected under the current situation."

"That's good. So what's up?" He tried to remain evasive.

"Well, my roommate and I have the night off tonight. It's the first Saturday in about a year that we haven't worked, and she wants to celebrate. I was wondering if you wanted to come over. There's gonna be a lot of people here and she knows how to throw a party."

"I don't know, Kaitlin." His heart was telling him to tell her yes, but his mind was telling him to say no. He knew what would happen if alcohol was involved when he was around her.

"No, come on. I want to say thank you for you taking care of me yesterday morning."

"Well…"

"I promise I won't dance this time." He laughed. He hoped that wasn't true.

"Well, in that case…"

"Hey, that's not nice." She countered back.

"Alright, you talked me into it."

"Really? Great! Just stop by anytime after 9. Okay?"

"Alright, I'll see you tonight."

"Perfect. Bye."

"Bye." He closed his phone shut and clipped it back to his belt. He moved his hand to his forehead and massaged his temples. This was a disaster waiting to happen and he knew it.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: Okay, I don't own Nick or anything having to do it with CSI blah, blah, blah…but I do own Kaitlin and all her wacky friends. I don't own Lily Allen or the song ****Alfie**** by her either. Sadly.**

* * *

"Celebrity shot!" Brandi shouted.

It was 9:30 and the party was underway. Brandi and Kaitlin had set up the dining room table in the middle of the living room for better movement during beer pong. Now playing, were their friends Brian and Tim, who were one team, and Eric and Cody, who were the other team. Eric and Cody were currently in the lead and Brandi had just called for a celebrity shot.

Tim looked at her incredulously, while Brian laughed.

"Brandi, if we were trying to loose, we would let you shoot, but we are actually trying to win." Brian looked at her and said.

Brandi scoffed. She looked at him and pouted. Brian looked back at her and smiled. Kaitlin had always known there was something there between the two of them. A year ago, Kaitlin, Brandi, and their friend Shannon had all gone to a party Brian was throwing. It was later on in the night that Kaitlin and Shannon had walked in on Brandi and Brian in a very compromising position. Brandi had never told anyone about that night, but according to Brian, there had been three other encounters.

"Alright, get your ass up here, Brandi, and make the shot or else I might be forced to hurt you." Brian threatened.

Brandi squealed and jumped up in the air. She had already had a lot to drink. Tim handed Brandi the ping pong ball and she took her aim. She arched herself and threw the ball to the other side. The ball landed in the cup with a _clink_. Brandi squealed again and jumped back in the air.

"Nice!" Brian high fived Brandi and she ran over to Kaitlin.

"Kaitlin! Did you see that! I totally made it and I'm not even that drunk yet!"

"Yeah, that was a nice shot." Kaitlin responded.

In truth, Kaitlin hadn't seen the shot because she was too busy looking out the window. She had invited Nick over and she was hoping that he would show up at any minute. She sighed as she looked back out the window; there was no sign of Nick.

Kaitlin turned her attention back to the room she was in. The music was blaring the music Kaitlin and Shannon enjoyed. Since it was Kaitlin and Brandi's house, they got choice over what played, and since Brandi was too drunk, Kaitlin had taken over the stereo. In the middle of the room, was the big dining room table she and Brandi had purchased just for beer pong. She focused on the game and saw that Brian and Tim were making a comeback. She turned her attention to the sitting area of the living room. There was a group of people sitting around the coffee table. Kaitlin tried to look at what they were doing and saw a giant glass perched in the center of the table with a deck of cards circled around it. She shook her head as she remembered the last time she had played kings cup. That had been a very bad night, ending in her almost completely naked and completely drunk. There were people all around the house, most of them Kaitlin knew, some she vaguely remembered, and some she didn't know. She turned her attention back to the beer pong game, and saw that Brandi was now standing next to Brian, who had his arm around her. She shook her head and stood up. She walked into the kitchen and grabbed another Corona. She removed the bottle opener from the fridge and uncapped the beer. She took a swig and headed to the front door, intent on getting some fresh air.

Kaitlin walked over to the porch swing she and Brandi had set up a few feet away from the door. She sat and began to swing herself back and forth. She could hear the music coming from the house and could occasionally hear a yell or a cheer coming from the house. She lifted her beer to her lips and swallowed the gold colored liquid.

She looked back at the house and rolled her eyes. All night Brandi had been giving her tentative looks out of the corner of her eye. It annoyed Kaitlin deeply. She didn't want pity from people. She didn't want to be _that poor girl_. She just wanted to be treated like always; like nothing had ever happened.

The police station had called and told her that her parents had arrived earlier that morning. They asked her if she had wanted to set up a meeting with them, but Kaitlin declined. She didn't know if she was ready for that yet. She liked knowing that they were near, but she just didn't think she was emotionally or physically ready for whatever that encounter would bring.

She took another sip from her beer bottle and lowered it. She had seen him. Nick was now walking up the front lawn and over in her direction. She felt butterflies in her stomach and smiled giddily as her approached her.

"Hey." He greeted her.

"Hey, yourself." She responded.

"Why are you sittin' out here and not in there with everybody else?" He made to sit down and Kaitlin scooted over on the swing.

"I needed some air." She truthfully responded.

"Are you okay?" He questioned. He looked at her curiously.

She laughed. "Yeah, I wish everybody would stop asking me that. I'm fine, and I'm not gonna go slit my wrists in the bathroom in the near future." She knew it sounded rude, but she had been drinking.

They sat in silence for a moment before Kaitlin spoke.

"I'm glad you came tonight." She turned her head to look at him.

"Yeah? I'm glad I came." He turned his head as he spoke to look into her aqua colored eyes.

Suddenly the song changed and a female's voice filtered throughout the yard.

"What is that they are listening to?"

"It's Lily Allen. Why?" She looked at him, this time suspiciously.

"I don't know it's just a bit weird."

"It's not weird! Lily Allen is a genius." She defended.

Kaitlin stopped and listened to the lyrics for a second.

_Oh deary me,_

_My little brother's in his bedroom smoking weed,_

_I tell him he should get up cause it's nearly half past three_

_He can't be bothered cause he's high on THC_

_I ask him very nicely if he'd like a cup of tea,_

_I can't even see him cause his room is so smoky,_

_Don't understand how one can watch so much TV,_

_My baby brother Alfie how I wish that you could see._

They both laughed. "Okay, so maybe that song is a little weird, but Brandi and I put that song on the mix because some of the guys in there are major pot heads."

He laughed. He looked back towards the door. "Should we go in?"

"I suppose." She sighed.

She made to stand up, but stopped once she saw Nick extending his hand out to her. She grabbed it and he helped her to her feet.

"I'm not that drunk yet, ya know. I can still walk and stand." She told him.

"I don't doubt that, but it's just how I was raised." He smiled at her and she knew that with that smile, he could've stabbed her and she still would've let it go.

She walked up to the door and opened it. She walked over the threshold and closed the door behind Nick.

"Kaitlin, where have you been? I tried to find you so that you could be my partner for beer pong, but I couldn't find you anywhere." Shannon had run up to her and Kaitlin could easily tell that Shannon was wasted.

"Did you check outside?"

"Oh, no. That might've been an awesome place to check, but Tim won't let me out of his sight tonight."

Shannon and Tim were engaged and had been for over two years. It was a miracle they were even still together. About a year ago, Shannon had slept with her ex-boyfriend Spencer. When Tim found out, he was heart broken. Everybody around them knew that Tim was immensely in love with Shannon, but everyone also knew that he was always putting more into the relationship than Shannon. While he had taken her back, his hold over her had become so controlling. He was constantly calling her all day, he always had to know where she was going, and he never let her out of his sight at parties. Kaitlin knew that Shannon wouldn't last much longer like that, and she knew that one day she was going to receive a phone call about a breakup.

"Let me introduce you to everyone." Kaitlin took Nick's hand and lead him into the kitchen. She reached into the fridge and handed him a beer.

"Okay, so right now, at the beer pong table is Brian and Tim. Tim is Shannon's fiancé, and Shannon is the girl who just ran up to me. Across the table from them are Cody and Eric. Cody is married to Marissa, who is over playing flip cups in the backyard right now. Eric is our next door neighbor. Okay, the girl standing next to Brian is Brandi, my roommate and best friend. She and Brian kinda have a thing for each other, but neither will admit to it. Are you getting this?" She turned to look at him.

"Yeah, I think so." He laughed.

"Okay. So, in the living room they are playing kings cup. Have you ever played that?"

"Not that I can remember." He shook his head.

"Don't. It's a very bad game." She laughed.

"Alright, I'll keep that in mind."

"So playing kings cup right now is Dane, who is an ass hole who thinks he knows everything. You'll see what I'm talking about later. Next to him is his girlfriend Brittany and next to her is her sister Stephanie. Next to her is Mikel. His real name is Michael, but his parents misspelled his name on his birth certificate, and all throughout high school teachers called him Mikel, like a nickel. Next to him is his brother Joe, next to Joe is fat Stephanie. I know that's mean, but that's what all the guys call her because she is always calling herself fat, even though she only weighs like 90 pounds and is more than likely anorexic. Next to her is Ertz. That's his last name, his real name is Dan, but the guy next to him is also named Dan, but we call him Mackey. That's his last name. Are you confused yet?"

"Gettin' there." He replied. All the names she was relaying to him were getting a little confusing, but he didn't care because the only person he was there to see, he already knew her name. He looked at her and smiled.

"Alright, the rest of the people in here I have no idea or they just aren't important enough for you to remember. So let's go into the backyard."

She took his hand and led him around the beer pong table. She slid the back door open and walked onto the brick porch of her backyard. Nick looked around and was impressed at how beautiful her backyard was. It was fairly large, and in the center was a pool. She had a built in barbeque grill and patio table on the far right of the yard. Over on the far left was a fire pit with seats all around it. People were swimming in the heated pool and people were making out in the hot tub. There were a group of people gathered around the fire pit, retelling stories from the past and laughing whenever a particularly funny one was told. Over at the patio table a group of people stood with red cups on the table and red cups in hand. He stole a glance behind him and saw speakers installed on the house, allowing the music from inside to carry into the backyard. Kaitlin tugged his hand again and began to lead him to the group of people around the patio table.

"Hey, guys. How's it going?" Kaitlin asked and every head looked up.

"Kaitlin, Matt is kicking my ass at flip cups. I need you on my team; you're the best at this game." Marissa whined.

"I don't know, Marissa, from what I remember Kaitlin is only good as long as she is drunk, and she isn't very drunk yet or else she would be in bed with me right now." Matt explained.

"Shut up, Matt. You're just bitter cause I always kick your ass at this game." Kaitlin retorted.

"Nick, this is Marissa." Kaitlin pointed at the short, tan, brunette girl who had asked for Kaitlin's help a second ago.

"You're married to Cody, right?" Nick asked.

"Oh God, don't remind me. He's pissed because I wouldn't be his partner at beer pong, and then he got even madder when I came out here to play flip cups with Reilly." Marissa griped.

"That's Reilly." Kaitlin pointed at the guy standing next to Marissa. Reilly had shoulder length black hair, and tattoos all over his arms. Nick didn't know how he really fit into the crowd, but he figured there was a way somehow.

"That's Mel." Kaitlin motioned to the brunette girl standing across the table from Reilly.

"And, that's Matt." Kaitlin pointed to the guy standing directly in front of Marissa. Matt was a good looking guy, with short blonde hair and green eyes. He currently was growing a beard, as a dare, and his appearance made him look like a miner. He was about Nick's height and was set exactly like Nick. Nick looked Matt in the eyes and noticed that he was staring right back at him, coldly. His eyes only diverted for a second to notice Nick holding Kaitlin's hand.

"Who's the new guy?" Matt asked harshly. Kaitlin had expected him to act like this, especially considering Matt still held onto the notion that he and Kaitlin were going to end up together one day.

"Guys, this is my friend Nick." Everyone around the circle, except Matt, said hello.

"Hey, Reilly, where's Lisa?" Kaitlin asked, noticing that she was missing.

"She's over by the fire. I thought about throwing her into the fire, but it might smell too bad." He joked.

"Yeah, and you know she would scream louder than she normally does. Can't you guys just picture her '_Reillllyyyy_'." Melinda whined, impersonating Lisa.

Kaitlin shook her head at everyone laughing at the joke Melinda had just made. Everybody then took turns impersonating Lisa whining for Reilly.

"Don't do that too loud, she might hear you guys." Reilly warned.

Kaitlin then dragged Nick over to the fire pit, where a few people had congregated. The smell of a campfire instantly filled Nick's nose.

"Hey, Kaitlin. Who's the hottie?" Lisa asked as she noticed Kaitlin and Nick approach the campfire.

"This is Nick. Nick this is Lisa, Reilly's girlfriend." Nick extended his hand and shook Lisa's.

"We'll see if it remains that way after the end of tonight." Lisa replied angrily.

Suddenly a guy stood and ran over to Kaitlin. He picked her up and threw her over his shoulder and ran toward the pool. He began to threaten to throw her in the pool.

"Nathan! No!" Kaitlin shouted. Everybody had suddenly turned their attention to the struggle that was now ensuing.

"Say the magic words." Nathan teased.

"If you don't put me down right now I'm gonna kick your ass!" She threatened.

"That's not right, and it's not very nice." He teased.

"Please, Nathan, you know I can't swim and that I'm scared of water." She pleaded.

"Well, I think that it's time you got over that fear." He responded.

Kaitlin began to pound her fists into his back in an effort to make him stop. He just laughed harder, before he set her down. Kaitlin jumped back away from his reach and folded her arms across her chest.

"That was so mean, Nathan." She pouted.

"Well, I just thought it might be interesting to see you all wet. Especially since you are in that revealing white shirt, and those hot shorts." He joked,

"Yeah, because me being wet is going to make the night better."

"He'd be doing a public service." Matt had yelled across the yard.

Kaitlin just rolled her eyes and walked back over to Nick. He had been watching the whole thing go down, and couldn't help but agree that Nathan would be doing a public service in getting her wet.

Nathan followed close behind her and upon reaching Nick; he had to ask the obvious.

"So, are you Katie's new guy?" He asked.

"Me? No. I'm just her friend." Nick nervously answered.

"Yeah, sure. How did you find this one, Katie?" Nathan asked.

"Nick is working my father's murder." She responded.

"Whoa. Wait a second. This guy's a cop? Are you crazy Katie, you brought a cop here? We've got weed over by the fire. I'm pretty sure Brian and Cody and Tim have been doing shrooms in the kitchen and I know for a fact that Travis is on some kind of pill."

"Well, dumbass, he's not a cop, he's a forensic scientist. Also, even if he was a cop, you just told him all the debauchery that is going down here tonight and where it's happening at." She laughed.

Nathan rolled his eyes and went back over to the fire. Kaitlin looked over and saw Travis look nervously back at Nick. She saw him shove something down the front of his pants and then turn back around to make sure Nick hadn't seen it. Kaitlin sighed and rolled her eyes. Nick laughed.

"I get that a lot, don't worry." He reassured her.

"You mean you hang out with a bunch of thirty-something losers often?" She quipped back.

"Ah, don't worry about it. If I didn't have the job I have, I'm sure me and my buddies would still be doin' this too."

"So, you were a delinquent before you became a scientist?" She asked, curious of what kind of person Nick was earlier on in life.

"I was a frat guy." He responded.

"Oh, I see. No explanation needed." She laughed. She had to deal with drunken frat boys all the time at work, and she had been a sorority girl in college. She knew first hand what kind of trouble frat guys got into.

Kaitlin walked back into the house and into the kitchen to grab another beer for her and Nick. He gladly accepted it and thanked her.

"Hey, do you wanna play a game of beer pong with me?" She asked.

"I'm not quite sure how to play it." He answered truthfully.

"It's easy. Each team consists of two players and in front of them they have ten cups in front of them filled with beer. Each team gets two ping pong balls and the object is to throw the ping pong ball into the other team's cups. When you make a shot, the other team has to drink the beer out of whichever cup the ball went into. The team who eliminates the other team's cups first, wins. Now, there are some things you should know. If both players from a team make their shot, they get the balls back and get to shoot again. You can distract the other team anyway you want, and I mean _anyway_ you want. I personally have seen every guy in here, naked. And I've also seen most of the women naked too. Most people just use smack talk, though. Tim and Eric are the masters of smack talking. Also there is something called a celebrity shot and that's where you let a person not playing take the shot for you. If you knock over a cup, you have to drink another one of your cups and you can't block the ball away when the other team throws it, unless they bounce it on the table. Got it?" She asked.

"I hope so." He responded.

As it turned out, Nick was a natural at the game. Nick and Kaitlin were, in fact, wining the game. They were playing against Matt and Tim.

It was Tim's turn to throw the ball. He closed his eyes and stood back.

"I'm gonna pull a Tim." He announced.

"What's a 'Tim'?" Nick asked

"It's something he does, where he closes his eyes and makes the ball into your cup. It's a big deal when he makes it, so we all hope he doesn't make it, or else you won't hear the end of it all night."

Tim leaned back and threw the ball. It hit the cup, but bounced back out.

"NO! I was so close!" Tim yelled. Everybody else laughed, glad that he hadn't made it.

It was Kaitlin's turn to throw and she took aim and threw. She made it, leaving only one cup left on the table. She threw her arms into the air and laughed triumphantly. Nick laughed at how easily amused she seemed. He was glad that she was smiling, he had never seen her this happy. She had smiled before, but there was just something different about her right now that made him like her even more.

It was Nick's turn, and it was all up to him to win the game. He had been doing well throughout the game, and he didn't want to stop that streak now. He aimed and threw the ball. To his astonishment, the ball landed right into the cup full of amber liquid. Kaitlin screamed and jumped into Nick's arms. She was very happy she had chosen him to be her partner.

"Redemption!" Tim shouted. Matt stood next to him scowling at the position Kaitlin and Nick were now in. Kaitlin let go of Nick and turned to look at Tim.

"Alright, come on. Miss your shot so we can end this game." She joked.

Both guys did indeed miss their shots and Kaitlin high fived Nick. He laughed at how happy winning this game made him feel.

He felt Kaitlin take his hand and she began to lead him away from the table. He was feeling a little buzzed, and he couldn't imagine how much the alcohol was affecting Kaitlin. She was really thin after all. Nick followed her as she walked into a room. She closed the door behind her, and he looked around. It was a simple room, with white walls and a light blue bed sitting in the middle of the room. He looked around and saw many pictures of Kaitlin and her many friends on the walls. On her bedside table was a picture of Kaitlin and Brandi standing with their arms around Hugh Hefner. They were both wearing black bunny costumes, and were both smiling widely.

"That was the day Brandi and I met Hugh Hefner. It was the opening night of the club and he was there with his three girlfriends." She explained upon seeing him looking at the picture.

He smiled and looked behind his shoulder at her. She looked so beautiful, he noted. She was wearing denim shorts that were showing off the legs that he had fantasized about so much. She was in a simple white wife beater, with a black necklace hanging around her neck. Her hair was down and straight. It reached just above the bottom of her rib cage and it the golden hues were shining under the moonlight that was flooding into the room through her window. Her cheeks were flushed from the alcohol she had consumed and she was looking directly back at him.

She loved the way he looked at her. No guy had ever looked at her like that, not even Matt. She looked him up and down. He was wearing dark denim jeans with a black belt around his waist. He had a black button down shirt on, with the top few buttons unbuttoned, showing off his smooth, shaven chest. His hair was short, it looked like he had recently shaved his head and was now trying to grow it back out. She liked it. His eyes were glowing with the moonlight reflected in them.

Before either of them realized what they were doing, they had moved across the room and were now engrossed in a passionate kiss.


	7. Be Be Your Love

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything having to do with CSI. Not Nick, not Catherine, and not Warrick. It sucks. Also I do not own Rachael Yamagata or her song ****Be Be Your Love**

**A/N: Okay, so this is the big sex scene and I hope you all like it, so to speak. Anyways…I know I never titled my chapters before now, but starting with this chapter, I am going to do that. This chapter was titled after the song towards the end. It is by the amazing Rachael Yamagata and it is called Be Be Your Love. I recommend you check her out if you don't already know her. I would also like to thank everybody who read last chapter and added it to their favs or story alerts. **

**Future Miss CSI60: Thank you so much for your review. Lol I based them all off of my friends who play lots of drinking games and act like idiots lol...I hope that this chapter lives up to your expectations. I have been trying to get through your "big sexy beast"...it's really good! I hope you like this.**

* * *

She could feel his lips brush up against hers. They felt so soft. She pushed hers back onto his harder; deepening the kiss. Her lips parted and she felt his tongue enter her mouth. The taste of beer was present and the smell infiltrated her nose. She smiled. This felt right to her. She lightly bit his lower lip and pulled it. She smiled again, and began to kiss him again. 

She placed her hands on his chest. She could feel his heart beat underneath her fingertips. She slowly lowered her hands, dragging them across his shirted torso until they stopped on his stomach. His abs were prominent under her hands. She couldn't wait to get his shirt off of him to see them for herself. He continued to kiss her passionately as he shivered from her touch. She reached down a little to feel the bottom of Nick's shirt. She felt for the bottom button and undid it. She started to undo all the buttons, moving her way slowly up, until his shirt had finally been fully undone. Using her hands, she brushed his shirt off of his muscular body. Her hands took up her previous position on his chest, this time feeling his skin under her fingertips. She scraped her fingernails lightly down his chest. He released his mouth from hers and moaned. She smiled and began to kiss along his jaw line. She placed light, feathery kisses along his neck. When she made her way to his collarbone, she began to glide her tongue along his skin, while kissing him. As she started moving farther down his body, Nick could feel his erection growing ever more with each kiss.

Kaitlin finally reached the waist of his jeans. Kneeling down on her knees, she looked up at Nick and smiled. His eyes met hers, and with that simple smile, he felt his groin ache like it never had with any other girl.

She slowly undid his top button on his jeans and then his zipper. She lightly tugged his pants down his legs and helped him step out of them. Focusing on her project ahead, she reached forward and lightly ran her fingernails over Nick's hardened erection, which at this time was covered by his boxers. He moaned something incoherently. She slowly began to toy with the waistband of Nick's boxers, but he stopped her when his hand landed on top of hers. He grabbed her hand and brought her up off her knees. She looked at him inquisitively, but he just stared back at her. He started to kiss her again. This time, his hands rested on her hips. Just as she had done previously, he began to run his hands up her torso. In any other situation, with any other guy, this would have tickled Kaitlin, but with Nick she found nothing funny about his touches.

She felt a jolt in her lower abdomen when she felt his hand grasp her breast. He brushed over it with his thumb, before running his hand back down to her hips. He found the bottom of her shirt and, pulling away from her mouth, he helped her pull it over her head. He tossed it somewhere next to them. Resuming his spot on her mouth, he reached behind her and began to slowly run his hands along her back. Her skin felt so soft under his hands.

Suddenly, Nick pulled back, this time with a look of frustration on his face. Kaitlin stepped back, confused. She looked at him; waiting for him to explain why he had stopped touching her as if she had shocked him.

"We can't do this." Nick stated flatly.

Kaitlin continued to look at him, confused even further as to why he didn't seem to think this was right.

"I'm not drunk, Nick. You wouldn't be taking advantage of me, if that's what you're worried about." She tilted her head to the side a little, trying to get a better look at his face.

"That's not the problem." He stated matter-of-factly.

"Then what is the problem?" She asked, curious still.

"I'm an investigator on your father's case. You're a witness. It wouldn't look good for the case or for the lab if you and I had sex." He looked down, desperate to find something to look at that wasn't her.

She stopped and thought for second. "But, Nick, you want this to happen?"

He looked up at her, this time all signs of frustration gone and replaced with care.

"Of course I want this to happen. I've wanted this to happen since the first moment I met you. I wanted this to happen that night you stayed at my place. Ever since you kissed me that night, my feelings for you have intensified. I can't get you out of my mind, and it doesn't help that every time I see you, you look so fuckin' hot. You have no idea what the thought of you does to me, but I can't jeopardize my career or the lab's integrity." He looked into her eyes, never wavering.

She let his words sink into her. What had he meant when he had said since she kissed him _that _night?

"I thought you said nothing happened between us that night?" She asked, not out of anger, but out of curiosity.

"I lied. I couldn't bring myself to talk about it. I was worried that if I said it out loud, then it would be real. Ignoring it was easier than remembering it."

She looked at him deeper this time. He was scared, and she didn't know why. She stepped forward until she was standing as close as possible without touching him.

"No one would have to know. We could keep this between the two of us." She whispered.

He thought about it for a second. They could do that. Nobody would have to know except them. They could keep it quiet and as soon as the case was over, they could go public. They could pretend that they had gotten together after the case and no one would be the wiser.

_No, Nick. This isn't good…remember what happened last time you thought this way; Kristy ended up dying and look at the situation you landed yourself in then_, Nick thought to himself.

"I don't know Kaitlin." It was all he could say as his mind continued to have a battle between his wants and needs.

Kaitlin reached forward and placed her hand on his arm. "Nick, I really want this to happen. I've been thinking about this moment for a while now, and when we kissed it felt so right. I really like you, but if you don't want to do this, I can wait. I just hope this all resolves itself real soon."

Kaitlin backed away and began to look for her shirt. Nick continued to stare at her while thinking. He didn't want to wait for her any longer. He hated that he had to start every morning with a cold shower. He was sick and tired of the fantasies; he wanted the real thing. Here she was, ready and willing. She was standing there half naked, and she was about to get dressed. Before Nick could rationally think, his want overpowered his conscience. He reached out and grabbed her by the arm, spinning her around to face him. He stepped forward and stared at her for a second.

Kaitlin saw his expression change from scared and frustrated, to contemplative. She knew he was thinking about it, and she wanted to give him a little nudge in her direction. She slowly reached out and placed her hand on his arm. She placed the other hand on his chest and lightly brushed her lips on his cheek.

He looked at her, she was standing there without a shirt on and he was standing there in nothing but his boxers. This moment felt so right, and throwing caution and all reason to the wind, he brought her lips back up to his. With more forcefulness than before, he began to remove her clothing. Starting with her bra and ending with her shorts.

Standing there in nothing but a pair of black, silk boy shorts, Kaitlin guided Nick to her bed. Placing her hands on his shoulders, she pushed him onto her bed.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, Nick saw her standing before him. The moonlight was hitting her perfect body and he couldn't help but feel completely happy. He had wanted this for so long. She moved her hands to her hips and removed her last remaining article of clothing. She stepped forward and placed her hands yet again, along the waistband of his boxers. His erection had come back, and it began to get harder and she pulled his boxers down his legs.

Once she had him naked, she moved forward and straddled Nick's lap. She felt him enter her and with a moan she began to rock herself forward and backward on his groin.

Nick's mind had gone completely blank when he felt himself inside her. He had his hands out on either side of himself and moved his head forward to take one of her breasts in his mouth. She moaned from the back of her throat as she felt his tongue play with her nipple. She gripped his shoulder with her nails and could feel herself scratch him slightly as she raked them to his chest.

Nick winced as she scratched him, but he didn't care. He was too focused on her to care for himself. His focus turned to getting her into a new position. He grabbed her around her back and stood up with her. With her legs tightly wrapped around his waist, he moved to lie her down on the bed.

She felt her back hit the bed and she scooted herself up the bed. He followed her motions, and quickly settled himself back between her legs.

She moved her pelvis up to meet each of his hard thrusts, and threw her head back when she felt his hand move down to rub her sensitive spot.

"Nick…" She half whispered, half moaned. It was all she could get out before another one of his thrusts sent her deeper into her euphoric state. He continued to use his fingers, and she wasn't sure which pleasure to focus on.

She didn't have time to think, as she felt the beginning of her orgasm coming. She threw her head back and moaned loudly as she came. He came soon after and moaned out her name.

Nick leaned down to kiss her on her soft lips. She lightly kissed him back, all her energy drained from the intense session they had just shared. He smiled into her lips and pulled away. Rolling to her side, he took her tiny form into his arms and began to kiss the crook of her neck.

Kaitlin smiled as she felt his strong, protective arms around her. She closed her eyes and relaxed into his body. She sighed and rolled around so that she was facing him. She took her hand and lightly caressed Nick's cheek. He smiled back at her.

He felt her lean forward and kiss him. The kiss wasn't the needy, passionate kiss they had shared earlier, but instead, it was a tender kiss.

Nick rolled onto his back and brought her with him, so that she had her head resting on his chest. She closed her eyes and soon sleep claimed her. Nick looked down at her and kissed the top of her head. He closed his eyes. He could still hear the music playing throughout the house. He had completely forgotten that people were still out there, having a party. He smiled and began to feel himself drift off. Nick sighed and thought that for the first time since he had been buried alive, he felt truly happy and alive.

* * *

A shrill noise began to filter into both of their sleep. Kaitlin tried to roll over, but felt herself stuck in Nick's arms. The noise continued and she felt Nick wake up behind her. 

"Make it stop." She groaned and she grabbed the pillow she had been sleeping on and brought it to cover her head.

Nick groaned as he realized that it was his phone. He removed the covers from his naked body, stood, and looked around for where his pants had gotten to. Spotting them, he snatched them up and removed the obnoxious piece of technology out of the back pocket. Looking at the caller ID, he let out another groan.

"Hey, Cath." Nick sighed.

"Nick, hey sorry to wake you, but we just got a break in the Hennessy case. I need you down here as soon as possible." Catherine spoke from the other end.

Kaitlin removed the pillow from her head slightly and stared at Nick's naked body. She blushed a little as she fully saw his glorious form. She hadn't been able to see him fully the night before because it had been dark. Now, however…

_Damn_, it was all she could think.

Nick looked over at her and saw that she was staring at him. He smiled at her as he saw her blush a deep shade of red, and bury her head back under the pillow.

She could feel her face on fire as she heard Nick mumble an agreement and a goodbye into the phone. Nick snapped the phone shut. He looked around the room for his boxers and finding them near the side of the bed, he put them on. He knelt down, so that he was at eye level with Kaitlin's blushing face. She looked into his eyes and he moved in to kiss her. She laughed and he pulled back.

"What's so funny?" Nick asked.

"I was just thinking how stupid I am for blushing about seeing you naked." She giggled.

"Really, cause I thought it was nice. It's always good to know the ladies appreciate my body."

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, so you do this with a lot of ladies then." She stated, not accusatorily, but more in a flirtatious matter.

"Nope. Like I said, only the ones that dance for me." She laughed at his joke.

"Who was that that just called?" She questioned once the embarrassment from his last comment had worn off.

"It was my job. I have to go in this morning. I don't want to, but they need me."

"Oh. Okay then." She was disappointed. She had wanted to spend the morning with him before she had to go into work that evening. It now looked like she was going to have to spend it alone.

"How about I call you when I get off and we can do something?" He asked hopefully.

"That's sounds good." She responded. She already couldn't wait to spend time with him.

Nick stood up and looked around the room for his clothes he had worn the previous night. Once he was dressed, he stepped back over to her and placed another kiss on her lips before saying goodbye.

She saw him walk out her bedroom door and she sighed. She threw her hands up above her head and rolled over to where he had been sleeping. She could smell his cologne on her sheets and she smiled, remembering their night they had shared.

She finally sat up and threw the covers off of herself. Walking around her room, she began to pick up her clothes she had worn the night before. She threw them into her laundry hamper and then walked into her bathroom. She started up the shower and once it was at a good temperature, she stepped in and let the steam and water envelope her.

* * *

Nick arrived at the lab, after having gone home to shower and change. He approached the layout room where Catherine and Warrick were now standing around. 

"Hey guys, what's up?" Nick asked in greeting.

"What took you so long, man? Damn, I thought you had gotten lost or something." Warrick joked, noting Nick's late arrival. Catherine had placed that call over an hour ago.

"Sorry, I got caught in traffic." He lied. He was used to having to make up excuses for his tardiness from his days when he had slept with random women every night.

"Alright, well now that Nick has _finally _arrived," Catherine joked, "we can start to talk about the case. Last night, I looked at Amy Hennessy's bank records. It turns out, that she had done a transfer of fifteen grand to a Mr. Mark Radford three days before Frank Hennessy's murder. So I did a little background check on Radford. He wasn't in the system, but not satisfied with that, I had Greg do a bit more digging and it turns out, he was a suspect in another case a few years back. That case, the wife had paid him twenty grand to kill her husband's mistress. Nobody was able to prove his involvement, but it was enough to get me a warrant. We found this gun inside his house. It's a match to the bullet we retrieved out of Mr. Hennessy's body."

Nick thought for a moment. So, Katie's mom had paid a hit man to kill her husband.

"So, that beer bottle we found, did the unknown DNA match this Radford guy?" Nick asked.

"I don't know yet. Mia is still running it." Catherine answered.

As if on cue, Mia walked into the layout room, a piece of paper clutched in her hands.

"Catherine, I tested that DNA found on the beer bottle to the toothbrush you gave me. It's a match."

"That places Radford at the scene. When the police find him, he'll have a hard time trying to deny his involvement. All that is left is to question the mom." Catherine smiled. She was glad the case was coming to a close. This meant that now she could go home and spend some time with her daughter, Lindsey. She also knew this was good news for Nick. Ever since the day they had started this case, he had taken it really personally. She knew he would be relieved. When she looked at him, she expected to see him look as happy as she did, but instead he looked confused.

"What's wrong, Nicky? We got him. This is done." She stated.

"I know, but what did you mean 'as soon as the police find him'? Does that mean we haven't arrested him yet?" He asked. He didn't like the idea of this man out on the loose. One benefit to his job was seeing the bad guy put away, and one couldn't put away the bad guy when one couldn't find him.

"We'll find him, Nicky. Don't worry about it. Now, why don't you and Warrick get the mom to confess. Maybe she'll know where Radford is. Then, you guys can go home."

* * *

Nick was speeding along in his truck. He was driving to Katie's house. It seemed like forever ago that he had woken up next to her. It had taken him all morning and all night to wrap the case up, all which was left, was capturing Mark Radford and this case would be over. The mom had confessed, but she hadn't known where Radford was. He pushed his foot down on the acceleration, egging his truck to go faster.

* * *

Kaitlin sat in her room. She had just gotten off shift from the club, and she felt wide awake. Usually she couldn't wait to come home and fall asleep. This morning, however; she felt different. She couldn't get her mind off of Nick. She smiled to herself as she remembered how his lips felt and how amazing he was in bed. He was better than she had dreamt. She grunted out of frustration and walked over to her CD player. She opened up her CD case and pulled out a CD that she knew might help her sleep, but that she would enjoy at the same time. The first some began to play. 

_If I could take you away_

_Pretend I was queen_

_What would you say?_

_Would you think I'm unreal_

'_Cause everybody's got their way I should feel_

_Everybody's talking how I can't can't be your love_

_But I want want want to be your love_

_Want to be your love, for real._

_Everybody's talking how I can't can't be your love_

_But I want want want to be your love_

_Want to be your love, for real._

* * *

Nick turned off of the freeway he knew so well, having to take it from work to get to his home too. He turned and began to speed toward her house, excited at the prospect of seeing her. He just hoped he didn't run into a cop on the short journey he had left.

* * *

Kaitlin closed her eyes and listened to the words more closely. 

_Everything's falling, and I am included in that._

_Oh, how I try to be just okay_

_Yeah, but all I ever really wanted _

_Was a little piece of you_

_And everybody's talking how I can't can't be your love_

_But I want want want to be your love_

_Want to be your love, for real_

_Everybody's talking how I can't cant be your love_

_But I want want want to be your love_

* * *

Nick pulled his truck into her driveway, noting that her car was there. He didn't see any other cars around, and took that as a sign that she was alone. He thought that was for the best, considering they weren't supposed to be together, yet.

* * *

Kaitlin laughed at the irony the song was bringing. She and Nick were trying to keep their relationship a secret and everybody _literally _was saying that they couldn't be together. She heard a car pull into the driveway of her house. She thought it was Brandi, who had gone out with some other girls after shift for breakfast. The song continued to play. 

_Everything will be alright_

_If you just stay the night_

_Please, sir, don't you walk away don't you walk away don't you walk away_

_Please, sir, don't you walk away don't you walk away don't you walk away_

_Everybody's talking how I can't can't be your love _

_But I want want want to be your love_

* * *

Nick stood in front of Kaitlin's door and knocked. He hoped she was awake. Kaitlin heard the knock and slowly walked out of her room toward the door. She didn't know who would be here at this time in the morning. She looked through the peep hole and smiled. She undid the locks that the door had, and swung open the door. 

Nick took a few steps forward and quickly had her in a passionate kiss. Kaitlin, using her foot, kicked the front door shut. Nick deepened the kiss and slowly he led her back to her bedroom.

* * *

"So what was that about?" Kaitlin asked, as she lay in Nick's arms. 

They had just spent the last hour having very rough, very passionate sex. She didn't mind, but she knew that something was wrong with him. She felt him kiss her shoulder and sigh.

"We know who killed your father." He stated.

She widened her eyes and rolled herself over so that she could see him.

"You do? Who was it?" She asked. While she was angry about him kidnapping her, he had been her father for 25 years.

"Are you sure you wanna know about this?" Nick asked. He wasn't sure now was the time to tell her this. Also, he wasn't sure if telling her at all was a good thing. When someone called her to come in for further questioning or just to tell her about the situation, it might look suspicious if she already knew what happened. It might even make her look guilty; it would look like she knew of the plan. She and Nick weren't supposed to be together, after all.

"Yes, I'm positive. I just want this whole shit to be resolved." She stated, bringing Nick out of his thoughts.

"Well, your mom, your fake mom, paid a hit man to kill your father." Nick scanned her face. He wasn't sure how she was going to take it. When he didn't see a response, he looked down at the bed sheets.

Kaitlin thought about it. Without knowing, she began to cry.

_How can someone I thought I knew so well, commit such evil crimes. First she kidnaps me, and then she hires someone to kill her husband. _

"Why would she do that?" Kaitlin asked.

"Actually, it was to cover herself. Your 'dad' was going to tell you about the kidnapping. She didn't want that to happen."

"How do you know that?" Kaitlin asked.

"It's what she told us when we presented her with the evidence." Nick said in one breath.

Nick finally looked at Kaitlin for the first time since he had told her who killed her "father". He saw her eyes were bloodshot. He removed his hands from around her waist, and used his fingers to wipe away the tears that fell from her eyes.

After a while, she had fallen asleep, but Nick still was wide awake. He sighed, as he wondered if telling her had been a good idea.

* * *

**Thanks for reading! Please review!**


	8. First Day of My Life

**Disclaimer: I don't own anybody from CSI. I don't own the music of Bright Eyes. I don't own Corona and I don't own the Playboy Club. **

**A/N: **Thank you to everyone who read last chapter. This chapter is just a lot of fluff and a little bit of drama at the end. Thanks StokesSandersSpeedle for your review. Things are really adorable right now, but pretty soon drama will come. I just can't keep it too happy for long.

I wanted to post this today because I know I won't have the time for a while. Tomorrow is Harry Potter midnight book release and I know that sounds really dorky, but I am a dork lol. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy this chapter. Oh and the song in this chapter is _First Day of My Life_ by Bright Eyes.

* * *

"So where exactly are you taking me?" Nick asked as Kaitlin sat behind the wheel of her car.

"That would ruin the surprise if I told you." Kaitlin responded.

Nick reached over and grabbed her hand. He noticed how small her hands were and let out a small laugh.

"What's so funny?" Kaitlin wondered.

"It's nothing." Nick lied.

"Well, something obviously made you laugh. What was it?"

"I'm just happy, that's all." He sighed.

Kaitlin looked over at him briefly. She smiled. In truth she had been feeling exactly the same way.

It had been a few weeks since they had first slept together, and they had been inseparable since. Every chance Nick had, he was with Kaitlin. It helped that they both worked night shifts.

A few days ago, Kaitlin had promised to take Nick out, since he had been the one to initiate all the dates thus far. She hadn't told him where she was taking him. All that Nick knew was that he didn't need to dress up and that he needed his swimming trunks. She only hoped that he would appreciate where she was taking him.

Nick reached forward and turned up the knob on the stereo. He didn't know what he was listening to, but then again, he didn't know half of the stuff Kaitlin listened to. It didn't mean he didn't like her music; some of it was actually really good. He tried to listen to see if he had heard this particular band.

"Who is this?" Nick finally asked, coming to the realization that he hadn't heard them before.

"It's _Bright Eyes_. They're really good. My friend Matt, this is his favorite band. He's the one who got me into them." Kaitlin responded.

"You mean your ex-boyfriend Matt?" Nick asked, feeling slightly upset that she was talking about her ex on their date.

"Yeah, but he was my friend before we went out." She corrected him.

Kaitlin could see the jealousy that Nick was radiating. Ever since Nick had met Matt for the first time, he hadn't liked him. Kaitlin got the feeling that Matt didn't like Nick much either. She wasn't sure what to do with that situation. She really liked Nick. She loved the time she spent with him, and she felt lucky to have him. She also valued her friendship with Matt, however. She didn't like the fact that they couldn't just get along. She knew that Matt still had feelings for her, and she was still trying to assess what to do about that problem. She sighed as she looked over at Nick who was now looking outside his window. He had let go of her hand after she mentioned Matt, and Kaitlin was starting to get frustrated that her date was going badly now. She looked back over at Nick and decided to change the song to one she knew he would like. It was her favorite song by _Bright Eyes_, after all.

_This is the first day of my life_

_Swear I was born right in the doorway_

_I went out in the rain, suddenly everything changed_

_They're spreading blankets on the beach_

_Yours was the first face that I saw_

_I think I was blind before I met you_

_I don't know where I am, I don't know where I've been_

_But I know where I want to go_

Nick listened to the song Kaitlin had changed it to. He knew she was trying to get his attention. He didn't want to be angry with her, but he couldn't help but feel jealous. She had never talked about the specifics of her relationship with Matt before. He had never asked. If he was honest with himself, he was afraid. He knew it was more than an everyday relationship that came and went. He looked over at Kaitlin and saw that she was quietly singing along with the CD.

_So I thought I'd let you know_

_That these things take forever, I especially am slow_

_But I realized that I need you_

_And I wondered if I could come home_

_I remember the time you drove all night_

_Just to meet me in the morning_

_And I thought it was strange, you said everything changed_

_You felt as if you just woke up_

_And you said, this is the first day of my life_

_Glad I didn't die before I met you_

_Now I don't care, I could go anywhere with you_

_And I'd probably be happy_

_So if you wanna be with me_

_With these things there's no telling, we'll just have to wait and see_

_But I'd rather be working for a paycheck_

_Than waiting to win the lottery_

_Besides, maybe this time it's different_

_I mean, I really think you like me._

As Kaitlin sang the last line of the song, she looked over at Nick, this time taking his hand in hers. If he was going to be stubborn, than she would just have to take charge and show him how much she wanted to be with him.

Nick felt her grab his hand and he smiled. He knew he was being stupid. He turned his head away from the window and looked at her. She had her head facing forward, looking at the road. Her blonde hair was sweeping across her face from the wind that was invading the car through her open window. She had her big black sunglasses on, the ones she always wore. Her left arm was holding onto the top of the steering wheel and the blonde hairs on her arms were glistening from the sun. He watched her as she rolled her tongue across her lips to moisten them. She wasn't the type of girl to wear lip gloss unless she was working. Nick could smell her perfume wafting towards him, carried by the intrusive wind. He had looked on her vanity when she had been showering one morning and noted that she wore Pink by Victoria Secret. He liked it on her. Nick thought that if he could just freeze this moment or to just have her keep on driving, than he would be happy forever. He knew that he would never forget how she looked right then. _Beautiful_. It was the only word to describe her.

Nick took notice as to where they were. He hadn't noticed where she had been driving, even though he had been staring out the window. She was taking him somewhere near Lake Mead.

"We're almost there." She told him.

"And where exactly is there?" He asked, trying one last time to find out where they were going.

"You've been in the dark for the past hour, and now that were five minutes away, you actually think I'm gonna tell you?" She asked skeptically.

"It was worth a try." He laughed.

Finally Kaitlin turned onto a side street that led to a small, remote part of the lake. It looked just like a beach. Kaitlin parked and turned to face Nick.

"Ok, we're here." She smiled.

"What is 'here'?" Nick asked.

"This is a place I come to when I just need to get away. We live in a desert, and this place just reminds me of the beach."

"I thought you didn't like the water?" Nick asked.

"I don't. It's just that here, it's so peaceful, and I don't need to concentrate on that fear. I also don't go into the water." She responded.

Nick laughed and followed as she opened her car door and stepped out. Kaitlin walked around to the back of her car and opened the trunk. She removed two beach towels and a blanket and asked Nick if he wouldn't mind helping to carry the small cooler she had brought. Nick obliged and followed after her down the sandy shore. Kaitlin laid the blanket on the sand and kicked off her shoes. Nick watched as she removed her tank top she had been wearing. She pulled down the sweat shorts she had also been wearing, leaving her in her bikini. Nick couldn't take his eyes off of her.

"So I'm guessing you like my new swim suit?" She asked with laughter in her voice. Nick's staring hadn't gone unnoticed by her, not that she minded.

"It's okay." Nick teased.

"I think it's more than okay, your eyes nearly came out of your head when I removed my clothes." She teased back.

"Well, that was more for the person who is in the okay lookin' swim suit."

Kaitlin smiled. If there was one thing Nick was good at, it was charming her. She sat down on the towel and opened the cooler, removing a bottle of Corona and taking another one for Nick. She picked up her keys and using the bottle opener she kept on the key ring, she opened the bottles. She handed it up to Nick, who had now removed his shirt. He took the beer and sat down on the towel next to her. The sound of the soft waves was intoxicating. Kaitlin loved this place. It was her refuge. There were plenty of little sandy beach areas along Lake Mead, but this one seemed to go unnoticed by people. She could always come here and be alone with the earth. She felt at peace with everything when she was here, and she felt that by showing this place to Nick, she was showing him a little piece of herself.

"So, how did you find this place?" Nick asked, drawing her from her mind.

"This one time, in high school, my friends were throwing a party on their boat. I told them I would meet them at the dock, but I took a wrong turn and ended up here. I just kinda remembered where it was, and I come here when I need to just get away from it all."

"It's beautiful. I forget that there are places like this in Vegas." Nick said.

"It's almost like we're not in a desert anymore. I guess that's why I like it so much. I feel like I'm far away from my problems."

They were silent for a minute as both of them looked out to the water. They were both lost in their thoughts, and Nick could help but think how much he would've loved to have known about this place after he had been kidnapped.

"I came here after Frank was killed." Kaitlin spoke, bringing Nick out of his mind.

Kaitlin had recently been trying to adjust to calling her former parents by their real names: Frank and Amy. She had also been trying to work up the courage to talk to her real parents. They had tried to call her many times, but she hadn't yet answered. She felt like a coward.

"Yeah?" Nick responded. He thought it was good that she was distancing herself away from her kidnappers. Calling them by their real names was just the first step, and he knew she had a while to go, but the thought that he was with someone who was more messed up than he was, was comforting.

"I also came here after I broke up with Matt." Kaitlin continued.

Nick knew that now was as good a time as any to ask why she had broken up with Matt.

"What happened between you and Matt?" Nick questioned, putting thoughts from his mind into words.

"He wanted to get married. I didn't." She stated simply.

Nick needed to know more. "Why didn't you want to get married?"

"I don't know. I guess part of me wasn't ready and another part of me knew that he wasn't the man I was supposed to be with. I always thought that he was the one too. It's just that when he was there, with the ring, I felt nothing. Girls are supposed to be excited and overjoyed when their boyfriends propose to them, I felt none of that. I just felt scared and confused. I knew our relationship would never be the same again after that, and I just ended it. It was selfish to stay with him; he deserved to be with a girl who would want to marry him." Kaitlin finished and looked over at Nick who had listened to the whole thing.

Nick didn't know what to say. He wasn't sure if that was the answer he was waiting for or not. She hadn't said that she didn't love him, but she didn't say that she did either. He looked into her blue eyes, waiting for a response to come to his mind, instead finding that nothing was coming.

Nick leaned forward and placed his lips upon hers. He softly kissed her, hoping that his empathy for her would show through the gentle nature of his kiss. She kissed him back just as softly, enjoying the feel of his lips on hers. Usually when they kissed it was passionate and forceful, and the softness of this kiss let her know how much he cared about her. Nick moved over on the blanket to get closer to her. He turned his body to face hers and slowly lowered her down onto the blanket so that her back was touching it. Deepening the kiss a little more, he moved to be on top of her. He had his left hand tangled in her hair and his right hand supporting his weight above her body. There was something about the exclusivity of the area they were at, the sound of the water hitting the rocks around them, and the feel of the soft sand below their bodies that made them both feel safe. Neither of them had felt safe in such a long time, and being with each other at that moment felt secure. Nick removed his hand from Kaitlin's hair and slid it down the side of her arm. Her skin felt warm from the hot sun and soft from the sunscreen she had applied before they left her house. Kaitlin had her hand on Nick's shoulder and her other one was holding the back of his neck. Nick continued to move his hand down a little more, and rested it on her hip. Stroking her hip bone with his thumb, Nick smiled as he felt goose bumps form on her warm skin. He dared his hand a little to the right and felt for the top of her bikini bottom. He slid his hand down a little further and found what he as looking for; the heat between her thighs. Kaitlin removed her mouth from his and moaned as she felt his fingers slip inside of her. He began to play with her a little, enjoying the sounds she emitted. He could feel himself harden beneath her. He really wanted to take her right there, but he wasn't sure if Kaitlin was the only person who knew about this spot.

Kaitlin wanted him badly. Forcing what little control she had left of her body, she moved her hands down to his waist. She began to pull his swim trunks down and had a little trouble when they got stuck around his stiffened middle. She laughed into his kiss and Nick got the message. He removed his hand from inside her, and helped her pull the trunks the rest of the way down. Kaitlin meanwhile had been removing her bikini top. When Nick had finally discarded the burdensome clothing item, he looked back at her, surprised to see her topless. This sight only made his erection grow harder. He felt it throbbing painfully and he knew that he needed to take her right there. Settling back onto the blanket, Nick removed the last item of clothing separating them. He threw her bottoms somewhere over in the general vicinity of his and immediately climbed back onto her. Stroking her breast with his left hand, he balanced himself over her with his right.

If the moan Kaitlin had let out when Nick had placed his fingers inside of her had turned him on, it was nothing compared to the one she let out when he thrust himself inside of her. She threw her head back and moved her hips up to meet his and she felt him thrust inside of her over and over again. Her left hand was now gripping the blanket tightly, as if she were about to fall off the blanket. Her head was spinning and the heat from the sun was beating on her face, mixing with the heat her body was accumulating.

Nick had never been so thankful for birth control in his entire life. He was thrusting harder every second, trying to fill her completely. He wasn't aware of his surroundings anymore; all he could focus on was how good it felt to be inside Kaitlin. He leaned down to kiss her mouth once more, knowing he was ready to come at any minute. He hoped she would be there with him soon.

Kaitlin felt the waves of her orgasm wash over her body like an electric current, starting at her middle and radiating to the tips of her toes and fingers. She gripped her legs tightly around his body as she moaned out his name.

Nick felt her inside pulsing and gripping and knew that she had finally gone over. He released himself within her shortly afterward and lightly collapsed onto her, making sure not to crush her.

Nick could hear her strenuous breathing and he rolled himself over on the blanket, pulling her into his arms as he did so.

As the high from their sex began to dissipate, Nick became very aware that they were in a very public place completely naked. He wasn't sure if he should get up and grab their clothes, or grab the towels she had brought and cover them with those. Nick ran his fingertips over her arm and noticed how sweaty her body was. Even though they were at a beach, they were still in the Mojave Desert. Nick rolled over slightly and reached into the cooler Kaitlin had brought with her. He retrieved an ice cube and began to rub it over her skin.

She felt the cold water drip down her skin and it sent shivers up her spin. It felt good, but the ice cubes were melting too fast on her heated skin.

"You know what would cool you down faster?" Nick mumbled. He had been kissing the crook of her neck, which had become customary after they had had sex, when an idea came into his head.

Kaitlin turned around in his arms, so that she was face to face with him. Nick ran the ice cube down her nose and Kaitlin giggled as she felt the water drip down the side of her cheek.

"What?" She asked.

"If we got into the water." Nick stated. He knew she had her fear of water, but he was hot and he wanted to show her that there was nothing to be afraid of.

"I don't know, Nick." Kaitlin responded, nervousness present in her voice.

"I promise I won't let anything happen to you. I'll hold onto you the entire time." He smiled.

Kaitlin thought about it for a moment. She was very scared of water, but lying there in Nick's arms, she felt so safe. She knew that he would never let anything happen to her, and that thought comforted her a little. She felt the rays from the sun hit her back and she decided that she would give it a try. She could always get out if she wanted to.

"Alright, but you have to promise to hold onto me the entire time." She stated as a bit of a warning.

"I don't think that will be a problem." Nick said with a big smile on his face.

Kaitlin extricated herself from Nick's arms and reached behind her for her sunglasses. She walked over to where Nick had thrown their clothes and picked them up. She threw Nick his swim trunks and began to put hers on. When she was finished she walked back over to Nick and took his hand. He gave it a soft squeeze and then began to lead her towards the cool water. He felt the water hit his feet and he felt her stiffen as it hit hers. He gave her an encouraging smile and pulled her closer to him.

"Just pretend it's a gigantic bath tub." Nick joked.

Kaitlin laughed and Nick could feel her loosen up a bit. He ventured out a little further so that the water hit his knees. The water felt amazing. Nick pulled Kaitlin in front of him so that her back was pressed against his chest. He leaned down and kissed along her shoulder, moving her hair as he did so. She relaxed into him and he knew his plan would work. He slowly started to move them out a little more; all the while he continued to distract her by kissing her neck and shoulder. Before she could realize what was going on, the water was at their waists.

She felt the cool water on her rib cage and opened her eyes. In front of her was the bluish green water with the sun glistening off the top. Behind her Nick was kissing her neck and running one hand over her stomach and the other rested on her hip. She didn't feel afraid. She felt safe. It was the first time she could ever remember feeling safe in the water. She smiled and felt a tear fall down her face. She knew this was all because of Nick. She thought back to the song they had listened to on their way to this place. Today really was the first day of her life, she thought. She had defiantly been blind before she had met him.

* * *

Kaitlin had just gotten home from Nick's. She had spent the night there after their "date" the previous day, and now she was feeling tired. He had had to work that night, and she had returned home to rest and change her clothes.

Kaitlin noticed that Brandi wasn't home as she pulled her car into the driveway. She walked into the house and was thankful that it was clean. She didn't know if she had enough energy to clean right then. She dropped her keys in the basket by the door and dropped her purse next to the table. She walked over the phone, intending to call Brandi, when she saw that she had a missed call from her parents. Her real parents. She sighed.

She wasn't sure if she felt emboldened by the previous day she had experienced with Nick or if she was just ready, but she picked up the phone and called her parents back.

"_Hallo?" _The voice from the other end responded. It was a male voice that Kaitlin recognized. Somewhere in her memory that voice was familiar. She felt her eyes well up and she sniffed as her nose began to run.

"_Hallo?" _The voice asked again and Kaitlin snapped out of her trance.

"Dad?" She whispered into the phone. She hoped that he had heard that because she wasn't sure if she would be able to muster up the strength or courage to say it again.

_"Angelika?"_ He asked from the other end. He knew at once who it was. Her voice was different, but it was her.

"Yeah, it's me." She half laughed half cried into the phone.

Lukas, Kaitlin's father, let out the breath he had been holding for 25 years. His baby had called. He felt the tears well up in his eyes and he motioned for his wife to come over. Maria, Kaitlin's mom, came running over from the bed of their hotel room. She had heard her husband say "Angelika".

Kaitlin talked to her parents for about five minutes before they had set up a time and a place to meet the next day. As Kaitlin reluctantly pushed the _end_ button on the phone, she felt relieved. She hadn't realized how much she had needed that. A burden had been lifted from her shoulders. She walked into the bathroom and picked up a Kleenex to wipe her face off with. She blew her nose and discarded the tissue.

She was about to walk into the shower when she heard the phone ring again. She thought momentarily that her parents were calling back, and she knew she needed to answer the phone.

"Hello?" Kaitlin answered into the receiver.

"Kaitlin, it's Matt." It was a simple phrase that Kaitlin had not wanted to hear at that moment.

"Hi." She responded quietly.

"What are you doing?" Matt asked.

"I was just about to go to sleep."

"Late night?" He asked. He had hoped that she was tired on account of work and not from that new meathead she seemed to be enamored with.

"Something like that." She vaguely responded.

"Where were you last night?" He asked. He had come by last night to see her, and had noticed that her car wasn't in the driveway. Brandi hadn't been much help either, only saying that she was out.

"I was out." Kaitlin mimicked Brandi's answer.

"Were you with him?" He could help but feel jealous that she had seemed to move on.

"That's none of your business, Matt." Kaitlin was starting to feel upset. He had no right to her and no right to know what she did with her evenings.

"He's not good for you, Katie." Matt snarled. He felt as if his territory was being invaded upon.

"Matt, I don't have time for this." Kaitlin sighed. She really didn't want to have this conversation. She had just had a very emotional previous day and had just had a very emotional phone conversation and right now all she wanted to do was shower and sleep.

"He's going to break your heart." He stated.

"I don't want to have this conversation with you. It is none of your business who I date." She was getting agitated.

"It is my business who you date. I was once a part of your life, Kaitlin." He yelled back into the receiver.

"_Once_. Once, Matt. That is the key word there. You aren't anymore and you need to get that through your head. For once, I am happy and you're just pissed that it's not with you." Kaitlin yelled back and then followed by hanging up the phone. She knew it was mean and harsh, but she was tired. He didn't need to be saying things like that, especially since they were things she had been thinking herself since she had first started seeing Nick.


	9. To Be Alone With You

**Disclaimer: I don't own Nick or anything pertaining to CSI. I don't own any songs by Sufjan Stevens. I don't own Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. I do own Kaitlin and her parents and her brothers and sister. I think that's it.**

**A/N:** Okay, I know that this has taken me awhile to put up, but life has been crazy right now. I had to read the new Harry Potter book, and then my best friend was going through a crisis, and then I had family in town from DC. Plus I have been trying to get all my stuff together so that I can fly down to Texas to stay with my friend for a week. We're trying to find a place to live, and moving in and of itself is hard, but moving to a different state… that's crazy hard. The title of this chapter is after the song To Be Alone With You by Sufjan Stevens.

RyleeS: I'm glad you're enjoying the story. I'm not quite sure though what you mean by time seems to have skipped because in the end of chapter 7, Nick explains to Kaitlin that her "mom" hired a hit man to kill her father because he was going to tell Kaitlin about the abduction. But I'm glad you enjoy the story and thanks for your review!

As always please review! Enjoy.

* * *

Kaitlin was nervous. Today was the day she was going to meet her parents. She didn't know what they were going to think of her. All morning she had been fussing with her hair, fussing with her clothes, changing shoes over and over again, and she had redone her make-up a dozen times. 

As Nick lounged in her bed, watching her get ready, he couldn't help but laugh. He had spent the night at her house so that he could give her encouragement this morning. As he let out a laugh, Kaitlin looked over and glared daggers at him.

"This isn't funny, Nick." She scowled.

"Kaitlin, you've changed your outfit five times already and your shoes seven. You look beautiful, darlin'." He complimented.

"What if they take one look at me and decide that maybe 25 years was too long of a time and they really don't want to get to know me after all?" She worried.

"I don't think that's possible." Nick stated simply.

Kaitlin hadn't slept at all last night because she had been up worrying that her parents wouldn't like her. She had had many scenarios play in her head about how this morning would go down. None of them were positive.

"You don't know that, Nick." Kaitlin said. She walked over and sat on the edge of her bed.

Nick sat up and moved behind her. He began to massage her shoulders, trying to get her to loosen up.

"They wouldn't have flown in from Kentucky hadn't they been eager to see you. You're their daughter, Katie. They'll love you no matter what."

Kaitlin rolled her head to the side as Nick worked the knots out of her shoulders. Part of her knew that what Nick was saying was true. She was just having a hard time convincing the other part.

"Remember the other day at the beach?" Nick asked.

Kaitlin turned her head around and smiled at him mischievously. She laughed.

"Get your mind out of the gutter Kate. I was talking about when you went into the water. Remember how scared you were at first? You got over that quickly."

"That's because I had you with me. You're not gonna be there with me today. I don't know how brave I can be without you."

"I know how strong you are. You're gonna do amazing. They'll consider themselves lucky to have a daughter like you. You're an amazing person."

"I don't know how amazing I am." She scoffed.

"Let me tell you about this case I had a few years back." Nick started.

"This doesn't involve decomposing bodies or a person turned into wax again, does it?" She worried. He had told her many stories just to gross her out, and she wasn't sure she was in the mood for that just now.

Nick laughed. "No, this is a case that kinda reminds me of yours in a way."

"Alright, then. Tell away." Kaitlin turned to look at him as he spoke.

"There was this girl named Tammy. We found her fingerprints at the scene of this homicide and when we ran 'em through the database, it turned out they matched a girl who had been kidnapped somewhere in Colorado. When we notified her parents, they were so happy just to have their daughter in their lives again, they didn't think about anything else. It turned out that Tammy was really disturbed. She had found out from her father's friend that they had kidnapped her, and upon hearin' that, she killed her father. When her parents found out, they paid her bail and bought all these bus passes all around the country to throw off our track."

"Wow. They were really stupid." Kaitlin added.

"Yeah, but there was a point to that. They accepted her even though she had killed someone. They did whatever they could for her." Nick explained.

"Yeah, I get it. If they'll help a disturbed murderer, then my parents will help a normal person." Kaitlin said flatly.

Nick laughed. One thing he really admired about her was that she had a very childlike quality to her; it wasn't childish, just childlike.

Kaitlin looked over at the alarm clock beside her bed and jumped up. She needed to be at the coffee shop in ten minutes. She looked in the mirror one last time, kissed Nick good-bye, and ran out to her car.

* * *

Kaitlin was sitting in her car, staring at the _Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf_ in front of her. She was scared. Inside were her real parents. The ones that had created her. The ones that looked like her and had her birth certificate. She sighed as she turned off the ignition. She was never the girl who just jumped into the pool; she was always the girl who tested the water first, metaphorically speaking. Kaitlin sighed again, opened her door, and jumped in. 

She ordered her iced tea and went to sit outside. Her parents hadn't been there yet, and deep down she had started to wonder if they would show up at all. Suddenly a rental car pulled up to the small coffee shop. Kaitlin instantly knew who it was, and she wasn't afraid.

Kaitlin's mom opened the car door and ran over to Kaitlin. She pulled Kaitlin into a hug and began to sob. So many years of lost hope and now she was standing in her arms again.

"_Meine liebe. Meine kind. Meine tochter. Ich liebe sie._" Her mother said slowly as she cradled Kaitlin in her arms.

Kaitlin knew immediately what her mother was saying to her. It felt so good to hear her mother say those things. When her mother pulled away, Kaitlin finally got to look at her. She had shoulder length blonde hair, just like Kaitlin's. She had gray eyes that weren't cold, but instead welcoming. She had the same full lips Kaitlin had, and she even had the same nose. It was the typical German prototype nose. Kaitlin laughed and wiped at her eyes as tears began to fall. She looked over at her father. He was a tall blonde man with Kaitlin's eyes. Those big, blue eyes that she had always had. She immediately knew how a new mother could love her baby so much after just meeting them for the first time.

Kaitlin gestured toward the table she had been sitting at. Her father went inside to order him and his wife their drinks, while Kaitlin and her mother sat outside with each other. They didn't even need to say a word; instead they sat next to each other while Kaitlin's mom held her hand softly. This was a part of herself Kaitlin had been missing her whole life. Maria, Kaitlin's mom, reached forward with her free hand, and wiped a tear away from Kaitlin's cheek. Kaitlin couldn't help but think how beautiful her mother was. When Lukas, Kaitlin's dad, came back out with two coffees, they all settled into a discussion about themselves. Kaitlin had been eager to learn about her family.

"Well, you have two brothers and sister." Maria told her daughter.

"Yes, Frederich is your older brother, he is 40. He is a pediatrician out in California." Lukas continued for his wife.

"Is he married? Does he have any children?" Kaitlin inquired. She was so anxious to learn about her family.

"Yes, he is married to a beautiful woman he met in college. Her name is Brigitte. She is of German heritage too. They have five wonderful children. There's Johanna who's 14, Ursula who's 10, Phillip who's 7, Tobias who's 4, and our families newest addition, Simone. She's 13 months I believe." Maria concluded.

Kaitlin was happy to hear her mother say that Simone was the newest addition. That meant that she included Kaitlin as part of the family even when she was missing.

"Your sister Lena is 33. She lives in New York City and works as an interior decorator. She's married to another German man named Maximillion. We call him Max, though. They have three children. There's Markus who's 9, then Julia who's 6, and finally, Claudia who's 3."

"What about Michael?" Kaitlin wondered.

"He's in college back in Kentucky. He does well and is working toward a degree in law." Maria informed Kaitlin.

"What about you guys? What do you do?" Kaitlin couldn't get enough information about her family.

"Well, I inherited a large amount of money from your grandfather in my early twenties. I owned a business back in Cologne. We sold it and decided to gain citizenship to America to be closer to you. It was a long process, but eventually people took pity upon us, and gave in." Lukas answered.

"Enough about us, what about you? I want to know all about you." Maria interrupted.

Kaitlin swallowed hard. This had been the part she had been dreading.

"Well, I have always lived out here. I went to high school out here, and I went to UNR. That's the University of Nevada, Reno. It's in the Northern half of Nevada. I majored in elementary education. My best friend Brandi and I stayed in a dorm together our first year, and we pledged to a sorority up there. After graduating, we both moved back here and Brandi's dad bought her this amazing house. We used to have another roommate, our friend Shannon, but she got engaged and moved out. The house is truly amazing. It has five bedrooms, two of which are masters, and it has the nicest backyard I have ever seen. It has this giant pool and built in fire pit. It's really nice." Kaitlin stopped as she saw her mom chuckle at the mention of the word pool.

"Sorry, I don't mean to laugh, but I just had this memory of you when you were little. There was this abandoned house a ways down from where we lived and it had an empty pool. After it would rain, you, Lena, and Frederich would walk down there to go swim in it. When Frederich was 13 he learned of acid rain and told Lena about it. Lena used to scare you, so one day you took one of my pots with you as protection. You wore it as your helmet. I still have pictures from that day." Her mother said the last sentence sadly.

"I hope those pictures stay private." Kaitlin laughed. Inside she really wanted to see those pictures, however.

"So you are a teacher?" Her father asked.

Kaitlin hesitated before answering. "Well, I was. I used to teach third grade, but recently I quit to pursue a different career. I actually work at the Playboy Club at the Palms casino. I'm a Bunny." Kaitlin finished. She waited for the looks of disdain, but none came. Instead her mother looked at her and smiled. Her father laughed.

"Those are very beautiful women. That's wonderful that you are doing something you love." Her father congratulated her.

"Well, the hours are okay, the money's good, but the shoes kill." She laughed. She was glad her parents hadn't judged her like so many other people had.

"So you say your friend Shannon is engaged?" Her mother asked.

"Yes. She's been engaged for about a year now. His name is Tim. She's very happy. He asked her in the corniest way, though." Kaitlin started.

"How did he ask?" Her mother wondered. Deep down, Maria was a romantic; she lived for stories like this.

"He took her out to dinner at this really nice steak place called _Fleming's_. It's really expensive, but really romantic. Anyways, toward the end of dinner, Tim slides Shannon a _Taco Bell_ sauce packet across the table. She had no idea what it was about, so she picked it up and read it. The packet said, 'Will you marry me?' on it. She thought it was a joke, but he told her he was serious." Kaitlin ended.

"What is so bad about that?" Her mother asked.

"There's just something about _Fleming's_ and _Taco Bell_ that doesn't mix." She laughed. Her mother also laughed.

"So what about you? Is there anyone special in your life?" Her mother asked.

Kaitlin thought for a moment. She had been about to tell them about Nick, but stopped herself. It wasn't that they were hiding it anymore; she just wasn't sure what he was to her. They defiantly were more than friends, but she wasn't sure if she should call him her boyfriend. Then her thoughts turned to Matt.

"Well, I was in a relationship about three years ago with this guy Matt. He proposed, but I didn't accept. I wasn't ready." Kaitlin ended. She hoped her parents wouldn't ask her about her current situation.

"That's too bad. What about these days? Any new guy?" Her mother asked.

Kaitlin knew that her mother had sensed something. Kaitlin smiled as she realized that her mother, having been separated from her daughter for 25 years, could still tell what she was thinking. Amy could never read Kaitlin.

"Well, I recently started seeing this guy. It's still fairly new, but he's a good guy."

"What's his name?" Her father asked.

"His name's Nick." Kaitlin said. She was feeling nervous about talking about how she had met him.

"What does Nick do for a living?" Her mother inquired.

"He's a crime scene investigator." Kaitlin answered hesitantly.

"That's different." Her mother laughed.

"Yeah." Kaitlin agreed, taking another sip of her iced tea.

"Where is he from?" Her father asked.

"He's from Texas." Kaitlin answered.

Lukas laughed. "I half expected him to be from Germany, what with your brother and sister marrying Germans." He finished.

Kaitlin laughed. Nick defiantly was not German, at least to her knowledge.

Kaitlin had been entertaining the thought of Nick as a blonde, much to her amusement, when her mother asked the question she had feared.

"So, how did you meet?"

Kaitlin knew she had to tell the truth. She had been trying to avoid the topic of the kidnapping as much as possible, but it seemed the cloud that was sitting over their table had finally started to pour rain.

"He was investigating my kidnapping case." Kaitlin said quietly.

Everyone around the table sat in silence. Kaitlin watched as a bead of water rolled down the side of her plastic cup. She felt her hair move slightly in the desert breeze. She didn't know whether she should speak or stay quiet.

"We never gave up hope." Her father stated. Kaitlin looked up, tears in her eyes.

"When we lost you that day by the pool, we prayed everyday that the Lord would return you to us. We had every officer search for you, but they came up empty handed. Since they never found a body, we always knew you were alive. We were told that we should go on with our lives back in Germany. They said that the chances of finding you were very small. It took your mother and me ten years to finally have another child." Lukas stated sadly.

"Every Christmas, I would buy you a present. I would sit it under the tree and I knew that one day, you would be here to receive those gifts." Maria stated.

Kaitlin smiled sadly. They loved her. She knew they did. They had never lost hope. They even prayed for her return every night.

Her parents changed the subject, all eager to move on from such a sad topic. They told Kaitlin about how when she was a baby she used to throw up a lot.

"Have you seen that movie _Exorcist_?" Her mother asked.

Kaitlin nodded and got the picture of Linda Blair throwing up across the room. She couldn't help but laugh. Her father told her about how they used to have potato pancake Wednesdays because Kaitlin had loved them so much.

They had been talking for three hours, when they finally realized how long they had been. For all of them, it seemed that they could sit there all day. It was just nice to be in each other's presence.

"We are having a family reunion of sorts in Louisville next year. I want you to come." Her mother stated. It wasn't a request and that thought filled Kaitlin with happiness.

"I would love to go." Kaitlin simply stated.

They exchanged numbers and addresses and then left with a hug and a kiss. Kaitlin felt her heart ache slightly as she saw the people she had grown to love so much over the past few hours drive away.

* * *

On her way home, Kaitlin was silently crying. She turned the CD she was listening to up. 

_I'd swim across Lake Michigan_

_I'd sell my shoes_

_I'd give my body to be back again_

_In the rest of the room_

_To be alone_

_With you_

_To be alone_

_With you_

_To be alone with you_

_To be alone with you_

_You gave your body to the lonely_

_They took your clothes_

_You gave up a wife and a family_

_You gave your ghosts_

_To be alone_

_With me_

_To be alone_

_With me_

_To be alone with me, you went upon a tree_

_To be alone with me you went upon a tree_

_I've never known a man who loved me…_

As the song ended, Kaitlin felt slightly better. She finally had a real family.

* * *

Kaitlin pulled up Nick's driveway. She knew that he would've headed home after she left, and now she was eager to tell him about her morning. She walked up and knocked on the door. 

Nick had been drifting in and out of sleep when he heard the door. He knew instantly who it was. He smiled. Getting out of his bed, he walked to the front door.

Kaitlin jumped up and hugged him so tightly he thought she was trying to suffocate him. She was crying slightly, but he had a feeling that they were happy tears.

"So how did it go?" Nick asked after she had released him.

"It went so well, Nick. I look so much like my mom, but I have my dad's eyes. I have two brothers and a sister and lots of nieces and nephews ranging in age from 14 to 13 months. They don't hate what I do, and they are having a family reunion next year and they want me to go!" Kaitlin said in practically one breath. Nick laughed.

"That's great. I told you they would love you." Nick closed the front door, which had remained open in Kaitlin's excitement.

Nick walked into his kitchen to grab a bottle of water from the fridge. He grabbed one for Kaitlin and walked her over to the couch. Sitting down, he handed her the water and drank heavily from his.

Kaitlin was suddenly nervous. She remembered telling her parents about Nick, and suddenly she wasn't so sure if she should have done that. Telling her parents about Nick implied that they were heading for a relationship and she wasn't so sure that was what Nick wanted. Nick picked up on the mood change.

"Hey, what's wrong? A second ago you were practically bouncing around the room and now you look down." Nick looked into her eyes hoping to get her to tell him what was troubling her.

"Nick, what are we?" Kaitlin blurted out. It wasn't how she had been hoping to ask him, but it worked.

"What do you mean?" Nick asked. He wasn't sure if she was asking what he thought she was asking him.

"I told my parents about you today. The only problem was I didn't know what to tell them. I'm not sure what this is. Are we in a relationship or are we just people who have sex?_ A lot_. And then I didn't know whether I should tell them about you at all." Kaitlin finished hoping that Nick would take the lead and fill in her unanswered questions.

Nick thought for a second. "You told your parents about me?" He smiled.

Kaitlin looked up from her knees and noticed the smile he had stretched across his face. Her heart skipped a beat.

_Damn that smile_, she thought.

Nick continued. "Kaitlin, I really like you. I don't think I've felt this way about a girl in a long time." _Since Kristy_, Nick thought. He pushed that thought out of his mind.

"I want you to be around for a while longer. Would it be okay if I called you my girlfriend?" Nick asked. He felt that by asking her in that way, he had taken control of the situation.

"Of course you can. So, does this mean I can call you my boyfriend?" She teased.

Nick laughed and then threw a pillow from the couch at her.

Kaitlin laughed and threw it back at him. Without warning Nick picked her up off the couch and threw her over his shoulder. Kaitlin began to protest and then she noticed that he was taking her to his bedroom and instead she went quietly.

* * *

**Thanks for reading, and I should probably tell you that the German words her mother spoke to her meant: My love, my child, my daughter, I love you.**


	10. Come Rain or Come Shine

**Disclaimer: I don't own Nick, The Who, Jimi Hendrix, Cream, The Mamas & the Papas, The New England Patriots, the Indianapolis Colts, Muse, Norah Jones, or Billie Holiday. I do own Kaitlin and Brandi. That's all.**

**A/N: **Thank you to everybody who read the last chapter and thanks to anyone who is reading this chapter! It means a lot to me that you take time out of your day to read my story.

So who is excited that football is back on? Lol…I know I am. Anywho, this chapter took me awhile to get up because it was hard to right it. I just hate writing sad stuff, but it has to be done because, honestly, who has been in a relationship where drama has not been present. If you have you are either kidding yourself or you are very lucky. I also took a while to write this because I started to write it and then had a very drunken Friday night with my friends at a party and spent Saturday and Sunday recuperating. I hope you enjoy this chapter because I really enjoy writing this story.

Thanks to **StokesSandersSpeedle** for your review. I was really worried about how that whole thing went down and your review meant a lot.

Please Review because when I see that I have a review it always makes my heart swell and brings a smile to my face!

* * *

_3 Months Later…_

Kaitlin smiled as she took the tea kettle off of the stove. She reached up into the cupboard to remove a coffee mug. She carefully poured the hot water into the ceramic mug and felt the steam hit the skin of her fingers. She stepped back and set the tea kettle back onto the stove. She reached onto the counter and pulled the box of tea bags toward her. Kaitlin had always hated the taste of coffee and could never understand why people would drink it when tea had more caffeine. She set the English breakfast tea bag into the mug of hot water and began to dip it up and down. As the sound of Nick's automatic coffee maker filtered into her ears, she smiled. He would be up soon. She removed the tea bag and threw it into the trash can. Opening the fridge, she removed the milk and poured a small amount into the tea. She stirred the milk into the tea and watched as the black color quickly became a light brown. She lifted the mug up to her lips and blew into the contents to cool it down. She sipped lightly, trying not to burn her tongue, and set the mug back onto the counter. She placed her hands in front of her on the counter and closed her eyes. She was still tired even though she had just slept a sound ten hours.

It had been three months since she had met her parents. They had been so kind and accepting of her. She smiled again as she thought of her family. She had spoken to them over the phone constantly. She had even spoken to her brothers and sister. They were polite and smart. She remembered talking to her brother Paul for hours about sports. She was a huge supporter of the New England Patriots, something she had picked up from Matt, and Paul was a supporter of the Indianapolis Colts. The arguments that ensued were lengthy and full of cuss words; however, it was all in good fun. She was glad that she had someone to talk to about sports. None of her friends were interested in sports, talking to Matt was out of the question, and Nick was constantly working. Friedrich and Kaitlin had talked at excess over music. Friedrich, or Freddy as he liked to be called, was into music of the '60s. She talked to him about Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Cream, and The Mamas & the Papas. With her sister, Lena, she had talked about fashion. Even though Kaitlin was constantly called a tomboy, she still was deeply into fashion and shopping. Lena had made Kaitlin promise that the next time they were together that they would spend copious amounts of time at the mall. Kaitlin had agreed.

It had also been three months since her and Nick had decided to become exclusive. She let out a soft laugh as she remembered the way Nick had asked her to be his girlfriend. It was child like, but that was defiantly one of the things she liked most about Nick. One minute he would be mature and smart and then the next minute he would act like a college frat boy. It always made her giggle when he talked about birds. He had many books in his collection dedicated to birds.

She was about to take another sip of her tea when she felt his strong, protective arms circle around her waist. She felt him place a kiss on her shoulder which was only covered by a spaghetti strap from her camisole shirt. She placed her hands over his arms and leaned back into him.

"Good morning sleepy head." Kaitlin said softly as she felt his thumb brush over her hip bone.

"Morning." Nick replied while ducking his head back down to kiss her shoulder again.

"Did you just wake up?" Kaitlin asked.

"Yeah. You weren't there when I woke up and I wanted to tell you something." Nick whispered into her ear.

"You wanted to tell me something?" Kaitlin questioned, unsure of what Nick wanted to tell her.

"Mmhmm. I wanted to tell you happy three month anniversary." Nick kissed her shoulder again and then turned her in his arms so that she was looking at him.

Nick was only wearing his boxers and his hair was a little disheveled from sleep. He had a grin on his face that Kaitlin had loved and trusted since the first moment she had met him. She couldn't believe that she was standing in this gorgeous man's arms as his girlfriend.

"People don't celebrate their three month anniversaries, Nick." Kaitlin laughed. He really was like a teenage boy sometimes.

"We do." He stated simply.

"Oh we do, do we?" Kaitlin asked and Nick just nodded.

Nick dipped his head down and placed a soft and gentle kiss on her lips before letting her go to make himself a cup of coffee.

"Well, what are we doing then?" Kaitlin asked, curious as to what Nick had up his sleeve.

"It's a surprise." Nick said as he poured the black contents from the pot into his mug.

"Well when do I get to figure out this surprise?" Kaitlin asked. She really didn't like surprises.

"Tonight." Nick said as he sipped from his mug.

Kaitlin reached for her mug and sipped from it for a second as she considered all the possibilities of what Nick could have planned for them that evening. She knew that he had the night off and that she didn't have to work. She did have to run a few errands that afternoon with Brandi.

"Fine, I guess I'll just wait till tonight to find out." Kaitlin succumbed as she set her coffee mug into the dish washer.

She walked over to where Nick was leaning against the counter and leaned up to kiss him. She had only meant for it to be a quick and simple kiss, but Nick had turned it into a much more passion filled kiss when he wrapped his arms around her waist and pressed his mouth to hers more wantonly. She smiled against his mouth before pulling away and stepping back out of his embrace. Nick frowned and looked at her with sad, puppy dog eyes.

"I have to take a shower, Nick." Kaitlin laughed at seeing his face look so pathetic.

"No you don't." Nick stated.

"I promised Brandi I would meet her at our house at noon." Kaitlin said.

"Why do you have to meet her again?" Nick asked, having forgotten what she had told him the previous night due to fatigue.

"I have to help her move Shannon's stuff back into our house since Shannon and Tim broke up finally." Kaitlin laughed. She knew he hadn't been listening to her the night before.

"You sure don't seem to like Tim." Nick remarked. He had noticed over the past couple of months that Kaitlin didn't speak too highly of Tim and whenever the two of them were in a room together there was always awkwardness.

"It's not necessarily that I don't like Tim, it's more the fact that I don't think he was good enough for Shannon."

"Do you think anybody is good enough for Shannon?" Nick asked, knowing how protective she was over her friends.

"Of course! She just happens to choose these losers or dorks all the time." Kaitlin defended.

"So which one was Tim? A loser or a dork?" Nick asked wondering why she hadn't thought Tim good enough for her best friend.

"He was too controlling. When a guy has to call his girlfriend every five minutes to find out where she is because he doesn't trust her or when he doesn't like it that she has girl nights because it takes away from his time with her, then there's a problem. He was too controlling and clingy and Shannon is just like me. She doesn't like to be smothered or babied. A relationship should be about trust and understanding, not jealousy and suspicion." Kaitlin concluded.

"Wow, remind me not to smother you." Nick joked. In truth, he had already figured that out about Kaitlin. He knew he was acting too clingy when she would get distant from him and she would start to act weird. He had seen it a few too many times in their first month together. He started to back off a little and then she started to come back around. Now he didn't call her as much and he let her have her space if she asked for it. He also knew that she didn't like surprises. He just hoped that he would be able to get away with tonight without scaring her off too much.

Nick watched as she walked off toward his room to go take a shower. He loved waking up next to her and he loved having her around his house. It felt natural. He loved spending time with her too. She could always take his mind off of work and no matter how bad of a day he had, she cheered him up. She was also incredible in bed. She was very flexible, something he had found out about a month ago. He was happy with where the relationship was at. His life didn't seem so mundane anymore. He liked all her little quirks. He loved arguing with her about football. He loved that she cared so much for children and animals. She was always donating money to some charity. Her license plate was even a charity one issued from the DMV. She was always donating money to the missing and exploited children's fund. He knew that she was smart too. She loved to read and there were times when the two of them would just lay in bed at night and read. He loved her unique taste in music and the fact that no matter how much she hated country music, when they were in his car she let him play it. He felt so lucky getting to be her boyfriend.

Nick thought to Matt for a minute. A frown found his face as he thought about her relationship with him. He was glad that she could remain friends with her ex's, but he wasn't sure if he liked her being friends with this particular ex. He knew the looks Matt gave her, because they were the same looks Nick gave her. Nick had never asked her again about Matt since that day at the lake. He knew jealousy was one of her biggest turn offs. He was only three months into the relationship with her and he didn't want to piss her off too early. Three months may be a long time to Nick, but to Kaitlin three months was nothing. She had almost gotten engaged, but didn't. She said she hadn't felt ready to. Did that mean that she would never be ready to? She hadn't been so young when Matt had proposed.

Nick sighed and then placed his empty coffee mug into the dishwasher.

* * *

Kaitlin and Brandi were hauling in box after box of Shannon's stuff. It was three o'clock in the afternoon and Kaitlin was glad it was autumn and not summer or else she might have just hired movers to do this. Kaitlin always enjoyed autumn. There was something about autumn that made her feel peaceful. Maybe it was the fact that football was back on or maybe she just liked the clothes better, she didn't know. She just always felt safe.

Kaitlin brushed the dry grass off of her denim jeans before stepping back into the hallway of her house. She felt out of place. It had been so long since she had slept here, she had been spending so much time over at Nick's.

She stepped into the living room to see Brandi collapsed onto the sofa. She laughed because she felt like doing the exact same thing. She and Brandi had promised Shannon that they would move all her stuff back into their house since Shannon was too upset to go back to her and Tim's apartment. Kaitlin was regretting that promise now. Her arms felt on fire and her legs felt like Jell-O. He hands were red and raw from carrying boxes and furniture into the house for three hours. They still had a bit more in Brandi's truck.

Kaitlin walked over to the fridge and pulled out two beers. She walked back into the living room and handed one to Brandi. Brandi reached for it without opening her eyes and said a form of thanks. Kaitlin sat down on the love seat and twisted the cap off of her beer. She drank deeply from it, trying to quench her thirst. She sighed out of frustration and then walked outside to their porch. Brandi noticed this and knew that something was obviously bothering her best friend.

Kaitlin heard the front screen door open and heard Brandi behind her. She turned away from the lawn and faced her friend.

"Okay, what's wrong?" Brandi asked.

"Nothing." Kaitlin lied as she inhaled the fresh outdoor air.

"Something is obviously stressing you out and I know it isn't this moving crap because we just did this a year ago when she moved back in with him." Brandi commented.

Kaitlin laughed. She hoped that they would not be doing a repeat of last year. When Shannon had slept with Spencer, her ex-boyfriend, Tim had kicked her out of the house. Shannon had been so heartbroken, but she accepted the fact that it had been her who had cheated on him. The three of them had spent all day moving Shannon back into the house, only to have Tim take Shannon back a week later.

"Is something wrong with you and Nick?" Brandi asked, knowing she had hit the nail on the head.

"Nothing's really wrong. It's just that we've been together for three months today and he is so excited and happy." Kaitlin said before pulling her sleeves over her cold hands, stretching the fabric of her shirt.

"And that's a problem because…?" Brandi asked, not quite sure what the problem was.

"I just haven't dated anyone since Matt. I mean I've been with other guys, but I haven't been in a relationship since him. I just got so scared with Matt. Things became serious so fast. One minute we're just friends and then the next he's asking me to marry him? Things are just becoming so serious between Nick and I. I miss this place. I miss hanging out with you and everybody and I feel like I haven't had much time to do that since I've been with Nick."

"So, you're not happy that you're with Nick?" Brandi asked confused at what Kaitlin was trying to say.

"No! I love being with Nick. He's so amazing. He's a great guy and I know that I'm lucky to have him. I'm just scared that this relationship is gonna end up just like Matt and I. I don't want to screw up this relationship like I did the other one." Kaitlin admitted.

Brandi nodded her head in understanding.

"It sounds like you love him." Brandi stated, thinking it was obvious that Kaitlin really had found a great guy in Nick.

"What? No. I'm not in love with him. It's too soon for that isn't it?" Kaitlin asked confused. There was no way she was in love with Nick. They had only been together for three months.

"Well, I can't tell you when it's time, but by the sound of things it looks like you love him. I mean you and Matt were saying it after only like a week together."

"That was different. We were friends before we crossed that line. Nick and I didn't really know each other before we became what we are." Kaitlin said.

"Well, a week, three months…who knows when it's the right time to say you're in love. I sure don't. Only you can know when it's the right time."

"Yeah." Kaitlin responded lamely. She looked down at the wooden porch, releasing her ands from inside the sleeves.

"Come on, we still have some of Shannon's heavy ass shit to carry into the house." Brandi said breaking Kaitlin out of her oblivion.

* * *

Kaitlin parked her car in front of Nick's house. She furrowed her brow when she noticed that all the lights appeared to be off. She turned her key in the ignition to shut it off. She wasn't sure if she had misheard what time he had told her to be over at. She looked at the driveway and noticed that his Denali was there. She sighed and was about to open her car door when her phone started to play the familiar tone of Super Massive Black Hole by Muse. She knew who it was and every instinct in her body was telling her to not answer it, but her curiosity was stronger. She reached into her purse and pulled the phone out. She flipped it open and waited for the familiar voice that so long ago she had loved to hear.

"Hey, Kate." Matt replied from the other end of the phone.

"What is it Matt, I'm kinda busy." She said curtly. She still had not forgiven him from his phone call three months ago.

"I just, wanted to talk to you since you haven't been returning any of my calls." Matt said sadly. Kaitlin's heart panged with guilt slightly. Usually she was one to forgive and forget, but she hadn't been able to do that so easily this time. He had said some pretty mean stuff and had even made her doubt Nick.

"Yeah, sorry about that. I've been really busy lately." She lied. She knew he would believe that for a minute.

"Oh. That's alright. I've just missed hearing your voice. We used to talk all the time and now…" His thought trailed off.

"Well, things change Matt. Look I've really got to go, I'll call you later…" She started to say before he cut her off.

"I love you Kate. I still do. I can't get you out of my mind. I feel like life sucks without you. It just seems pointless." He said quickly.

She sighed. She had not been expecting this. "Look, Matt, we tried and it didn't work out. We can't just get back together. It doesn't work that way."

"I know. I just want you back. I don't care if you don't want to get married now or ever…I just want you back in my life. I love you, Kaitlin." Matt pleaded.

"I don't know what to say. I don't know what you want me to do here, Matt. I don't know how many times I can tell you that I'm not in love with you anymore." Kaitlin said awkwardly.

"Is this because you love Nick?" Matt asked already knowing what she was going to say.

Kaitlin stopped to think about it. That question sure was being thrown at her a lot lately. She didn't know how to respond. She just sat in silence for a second.

"Look, Matt I have to go. I'll talk to you later, okay? Bye." She hung up before he could respond. She knew it was cruel and insensitive, but she didn't think she could hear him plead with her any longer. She placed her phone of silent and put it back into her purse. She sighed before she stepped out of her car. She walked up Nick's driveway and up the pathway to his door. She only had to knock once before he opened. He looked really handsome tonight. He wasn't dressed up or trying too hard to look good, but he just looked genuine. She loved that about him.

There was that word again; love. A word that she could use to think about him but a word that she just could not bring herself to put with his name. She knew she really was scared. It wasn't that she was scared of getting hurt so much, it was more that she was scared of hurting him. The last thing she needed was another Matt in her life. She didn't think she could stand it if Nick was the one calling her pleading for her love.

She stepped into the house after Nick stepped aside to let her in. The house was indeed dark, but the candles that he had lit all around the house were illuminating the walls. She heard the faint sound of Norah Jones' Turn Me On playing through his stereo. He knew how much she liked Norah Jones and she smiled at his thoughtfulness. She turned to look at him and she smelled something cooking. Her smile got bigger as she thought about how much he had planned for her.

"Are you cooking?" She asked amused.

"Yeah. Trust me, you'll like it. You mentioned to me once how much you liked it and I thought I would ask my mom how to make it." He said, stepping forward to kiss her deeply.

She pulled away when she smelled exactly what he was cooking. She smiled, showing all of her teeth.

"You're making me jambalaya? You're mom knew how to make it?" She asked incredulously.

"Yeah, it wasn't easy to make, but I think I've done a pretty good job." He stepped forward again, intent on kissing her again, but she pulled away again.

"You did all of this for me?" She asked, still not believing that he cared this much about her.

"No, the food is for you, but the candles are for my other girlfriend." He joked. She shot him a glare and he started to laugh.

"Of course this is all for you, Kaitlin. I told we were goin' to celebrate our three month anniversary." Nick said and kissed her on the cheek as the timer on the stove went off.

Nick rushed over to the kitchen to remove the dish from the oven. He set it on the stove and turned off the oven. He took out two bowls and began to spoon the jambalaya into the bowls. He walked over to the dining table and set them down. He motioned with his head for her to join him. He walked back into the kitchen to remove a bottle of white wine from the fridge. He pulled the cork off and walked back to the table. He poured the wine into the two wine glasses he had set earlier on the table.

Kaitlin was still in disbelief that he had done this for her. Matt sure had never taken time to make her her favorite dinner and he certainly never lit candles anywhere in the house. She walked over the table and sat down. She looked at the dish and surmised that he had done a good job making it. She only hoped that he had made it spicy enough. She knew deep in her mind though, that it could have tasted like crap and she still would have liked it because he had made it for her. Luckily it didn't taste bad, it was actually perfect.

"So how did I do?" Nick asked looking up at her for confirmation.

"It's perfect." She replied. She reached forward and sipped from her wine glass. She preferred white wine to red and Nick knew that. Her friends had always said that as she got older she would enjoy red wine more, but she still had yet for that to happen. After she had finished eating she sat back in her chair and looked upon Nick. She smiled and noticed that he was watching her too. She felt so lucky to have him in her life.

Suddenly an older song came on that Kaitlin loved. She laughed as Nick stood up and offered her his hand. She shook her head and took his hand. He pulled her into the living room and pulled her against his body and started to dance slowly.

_I'm gonna love you_

_Like nobody's loved you_

_Come rain or come shine_

_High as a mountain_

_And deep as a river_

_Come rain or come shine_

_I guess when you met me_

_It was just one of those things_

_But don't ever bet me_

_Cause I'm gonna be true_

_If you let me_

She was resting her head on his shoulder as Billie Holiday's Come Rain or Come Shine sounded through the speakers into his living room. She loved this song. It was one of her favorite classic songs. She felt at peace with the world right there in his arms.

_You're gonna love me_

_Like nobody's loved me_

_Come rain or come shine_

_Happy together, unhappy together_

_And won't it be fine_

_Days may be cloudy or sunny_

_We're in, or we're out of the money_

_But I'm with you always_

_I'm with you rain or shine_

She smiled big as she listened to the words. She inhaled Nick's cologne and felt like she was at home in his arms. In her mind she thought, _this is what love is_. She knew in that instant that what everybody had been telling her was true; she was in love with Nick. Head over heels. That was why she was so scared. Not because she was afraid of hurting him, but because the last time she had been in love was with Matt. She had never thought she would find it again. Here she was all over again. It felt right.

_I'm gonna love you _

_Like nobody's loved you_

_Come rain or come shine_

_High as a mountain_

_Deep as a river_

_Come rain or come shine_

_I guess when you met me_

_It was just one of those things_

_But don't ever bet me_

_Cause I'm gonna be true_

_If you let me_

_You're gonna love me_

_Like nobody's loved me_

_Come rain or come shine_

_Happy together, unhappy together_

_And won't it be fine_

_Days may be cloudy or sunny_

_We're in, or we're out of the money_

_But I'll love you always_

_I'm with you rain or shine_

_Rain or shine_

As the song ended she looked up into his eyes and smiled. She leaned up and kissed him tenderly. She hoped that he could understand her feelings through the kiss.

* * *

The next morning Kaitlin awoke to the sound of Nick snoring. She laughed quietly and removed his arm from around her waist. She got out of the bed and walked into the kitchen to make her usual morning cup of tea.

Nick awoke and noticed that Kaitlin wasn't in the bed with him. He frowned and threw the covers off of his naked body. Last night had gone perfect. She had seemed to like it and she didn't seem to think he was smothering her. He went over to his dresser and pulled out a pair of boxers, slipped them on and opened the bedroom door. He heard her clinking around in his kitchen. She was probably making her tea. He didn't particularly like tea, but she hated coffee so he made sure to always have tea stocked in his house. She liked English breakfast or Earl Gray in the mornings and chamomile at night. She said it helped her sleep. She also said it helped her relieve stress.

He rounded the corner and saw her reaching up to grab the box of tea that he had set in the cupboard. He laughed as she stood on her toes to try and reach it, finally knocking it onto the counter. He walked into the kitchen.

"Good morning, beautiful." He said from behind her.

Kaitlin turned and smiled. She loved the way he looked in the morning. During the day he always tried to look so put together, but in the morning he looked rumpled and cute. She walked over to him and kissed him lightly. She wasn't much of a morning person and didn't like to show too much affection in the morning. It was the reason she and Nick didn't have a lot of morning sex. Nick had found out one particular morning how much she hated being woken up and he knew he still had the scar to prove it. He knew that the only two people she never got angry at for waking her up were Brandi and Shannon.

"Good morning, handsome." She replied pulling away from his face.

"How did you sleep?" He asked.

"Perfect. You?" She asked.

"I had you, I slept very well." He smiled at her. She loved his smile.

She knew she would have to tell him her little revelation soon or else she might never tell him. As she stood there thinking about it, Nick's house phone began to ring.

"Can you answer that sweetie?" He asked as he dug around in the fridge for breakfast.

"What am I your slave?" She joked and he turned around and smirked at her.

"Just do as I tell you to woman or I won't make you any breakfast." He called as he stuck his head back into the fridge.

Kaitlin walked over to the phone and pulled it off of the receiver. She clicked the talk button and answered.

"Hello, Nick's house." She joked into the receiver.

A southern accented woman replied from the other end. "Hi, this is Nick's mom, am I speaking to Kaitlin?"

Kaitlin stopped for a second unsure of what to say. Nick noticed it and knew instantly who she was on the phone with.

"Um, yeah. How are you?" She asked politely, dropping all manner of joking.

"I'm fine, dear. How are you?" She laughed at the young woman's nervousness.

"I'm good. Did you want to speak with Nick?" She asked trying to give herself an out from talking to Nick's mom.

"Yes, thank you." She replied.

"Just one second." Kaitlin said into the phone before covering it with her hand.

"It's you mom." Kaitlin whispered to Nick. He laughed at her. She seemed really shocked at who had been on the other end. He took the phone out of her hand and kissed her before responding into the phone.

She wasn't sure what he was talking about, but she gathered that he was going somewhere and that made her frown. He hadn't mentioned a trip to her. When he hung up the phone he turned to her and laughed.

"That was smooth." He said over his shoulder as he began to make the eggs on the stove.

"Well, I wasn't expecting your mother to be on the other end." She replied.

"She thought you were funny." Nick stated.

"Where are you going?" Kaitlin asked as she walked back into the kitchen to retrieve her tea.

"Texas, for Thanksgiving." He said as if it were obvious.

"Oh." She said with hint of sadness. She really didn't want him to go somewhere, especially since she had just found out that she loved him.

Nick heard the tone of her voice and smiled. He knew that she was going to miss him and that made him that much more aware that his plan was going to work. He turned around and set the eggs on a plate. He walked over to the table and set them down. He smiled at her and took her hand in his. He ran his thumb over her knuckles and looked back up at her.

"Do you want to come with me?" He asked. He was nervous asking her this but he had a feeling she would say yes.

"You want me to go to Texas with you?" Kaitlin asked, not sure if she had heard him correctly.

Nick nodded.

"Like for Thanksgiving?" She asked, still unsure if she had heard him correctly.

He nodded again, waiting for her response.

"To meet your family and everything?" She asked a bit nervously.

Again he just nodded.

She looked at him and a smile stole over her face.

"I'd love to go, Nick." She said happily.

"Great." He stated simply. He didn't want to sound too surprised that she had said yes.

* * *

When the two of them had finished eating breakfast and cleaning up, Kaitlin realized that she had to go. She needed to get home to sleep so that she would be able to stay awake at work that night. As Nick stood by her car door kissing her goodbye, she realized that right then was the perfect time to tell him.

She reached forward and ran her hand over his cheek. He smiled and moved his head so that he could kiss her palm.

"I love you, Nick." She said.

Nick stood there completely shocked. He had not expected her to say that. She hadn't shown any sign that she had loved him, and he was still trying to decide his own feelings about her. He stood there looking into her face, studying it. Finally he spoke.

"I'll talk to you later."

Kaitlin couldn't help but feel disappointed that he didn't love her. She nodded and slowly stepped into her car before speeding off home. As she drove her way the short distance, tears rolled down and stained her blue shirt she was wearing. She realized that his response was the same as the one she had given to Matt when he told her he loved her.


	11. Don't Cry Out

**Disclaimer: I don't own any CSI characters. I own Kaitlin and Brandi. That's it.**

**A/N: **Hey guys. Sorry for the long delay, but I had some things to deal with. First I got extremely sick. I was throwing up for 3 days straight and I wasn't even able to hold down water. I eventually had to go the hospital, only to find out that I have 5 kidney stones in both of my kidneys. Yeah, it sucks. Then when I was better, my mom took me and my sister and my friend and my sister's friend out to Mesquite, Nevada to have a relaxing spa weekend. That was nice, but I didn't bring my laptop cause it was a **relaxing weekend.** Lol. Anyway and then I had no inspiration to write because I was so busy with getting a new job. But now things have finally calmed down.

**StokesSandersSpeedle**- Thanks for your review. Yeah, poor Kaitlin, but I think you'll like this chapter.

**pas.de.chat**- I'm glad you like the story and don't worry; it'll all get clear in this chapter.

Anyways…there is some drug use in this chapter. Please review and enjoy! Thanks!

* * *

It was 3 A.M. in the morning and all the lights were out in her house. She sat in front of her bed, in a chair that easily devoured her small form. The wind, which had quickly picked up that afternoon, pounded and whipped across her screen covered window. The tears she had shed all morning and afternoon were dried on her face, leaving a salty taste on her lips.

She sighed and dipped her head down. She had passed her shift off to another girl, deciding she was in no condition to work. The day had gone on forever and all she wanted it to do was end.

Her cell phone rang from inside her purse. She figured it was probably Brandi calling to check up on her. When Kaitlin had returned home from Nick's house earlier that day, Brandi had been sitting in the living room watching TV. Brandi had seen Kaitlin's blood shot eyes and shining face; wet from tears. Concern for Kaitlin had almost caused Brandi to stay home from work as well, but Kaitlin didn't want Brandi to miss out on a day's worth of pay on her account. Before Brandi had left for work, she had left Kaitlin a bottle of Lortabs. She figured Kaitlin might need some help sleeping.

Kaitlin turned her head away from the annoying ringing issuing from inside her purse. Brandi sure was persistent. She reached over to the table next to her chair and picked up the orange pill bottle. She rolled it between her hands slowly.

She was an idiot, she thought, remembering how her morning had gone. Why had she told Nick that she loved him? Why had she laid her heart on the table and let it get stomped on? How could she not see that he was not in love with her also? Why had she put more into a relationship than she wanted to?

He had just looked away from her and not said a single damn word. She had told him something that made her so vulnerable and exposed and he had taken advantage of that.

Kaitlin unscrewed the pill bottle's top and poured four white pills into her hand. She had taken Lortabs before. She knew what to expect and she knew how many to take to ensure that she couldn't feel a thing. She put the top back on and placed the bottle onto the table. Putting the pills into her mouth, she pulled the water bottle up to her lips and drank deeply, letting the pills fall into the pit of her empty body.

Her cell phone rang again and she ignored it. She walked over to her nightstand and pulled out a pair of sweat pants and a tank top. She quickly put them on and crawled into her oversized bed. She had never felt so small in her life. Everything in the world seemed too large for her to deal with. Even her furniture was too big for her. First her father had been murdered, and then she found out that he wasn't really her father to begin with and was in fact her captor. Next, she had to meet her parents for the first time in her memory and then Nick blew apart her heart. She really had started to feel as if she had hit rock bottom. As the pills started to take effect, the last thing Kaitlin remembered was hearing her cell phone ring again.

* * *

Nick sat in the break room at work frantically calling Kaitlin. He knew he had made a mistake in not telling her how much he really loved her. He really did love her, but it scared him. He wasn't sure at that moment that he was ready to have his heart broken. It was one thing to like someone, but to love someone was a whole different ball game. Love made you vulnerable. Love made you do stupid things. Nick had felt so sure a couple of months ago that finding love was exactly what he had wanted in order to break out of his monotonous life. Here he was in love and it scared the hell out of him. He silently prayed for his boring, predictable life back. Life without Kaitlin was much easier and safer.

He grunted in frustration as he got her voicemail for the third time. He knew she purposely wasn't answering his calls. He wanted desperately to talk to her. He wanted her to know that he did love and care about her and that he was an idiot.

Catherine walked into the break room in time to hear him sigh loudly and heavily. She walked over and poured herself a cup of coffee before taking up a seat on the other side of the table from Nick. She studied the younger man. He looked frustrated and she knew it had nothing to do with the case they were trying to solve. Her motherly instincts took over and she placed a hand over his. Nick looked up, unaware that she had even entered the room, and met her penetrating gaze. A soft smile stole over her mouth and she searched inside his brown eyes for an answer to what was causing him his grief.

"Are you doing okay, Nicky?" Catherine asked, finally deciding to just address the problem head on.

"Yeah, I'm just tired, Cath." Nick lied, hoping that she would just drop the subject. Nobody Nick worked with knew about he and Kaitlin yet, and he didn't think now was the right moment to break the news. Hell, he wasn't even sure if he still was with Kaitlin.

"Nick, I know you better than that. Nobody sighs that heavily when they're just tired. Now, what is really bothering you?" She probed. She knew if she pushed him enough, he might just actually tell her the truth.

"It's just…it's nothing. Don't worry about it. It's my problem and I'll deal with it." He replied shortly. He had been about to tell her, but his mind had stopped him.

"Does this have something to do with that girl you've been seeing?" She asked, knowing full well that that was the problem.

"How did you know I was seeing Kaitlin?" Nick asked, curious as to how she had found his secret out.

"Well, I didn't know you were seeing Kaitlin. I knew you were seeing someone. You seemed happier and you were always coming into the lab late. It was like the old Nick was back. Plus, you always had scratches on your back." She winked at him with her last comment.

Nick smiled and unconsciously put his hand on his shoulder, where Kaitlin's recent scratch marks rested. He remembered the last time they had made love and the thought made his heart ache. Making _love_. That was exactly what they had been doing for the past three months. Their relationship had grown into something so substantial, and he hadn't even been aware enough to notice.

"She told me she loved me this morning." Nick stated, hoping she would understand, but knowing that his cryptic answer wasn't enough.

"Is that a bad thing?" Catherine asked, confused.

"I didn't say anything back." He mumbled, running his hands down his tired face. He hadn't slept all afternoon. He had been up thinking. After much tossing and turning, he had given up any hope of sleeping, and just decided to come into work early.

"Well, you fucked up." Catherine replied, stating what was blatantly obvious.

"Yeah, I know that." Nick remarked annoyed that she was echoing what his mind had been telling him all afternoon.

"Sorry, Nick, I didn't mean to upset you." Catherine said softly, knowing she had upset him somehow.

"It's alright." Nick stated without even looking up at her. He was staring at his hands which were placed on top of the table.

The two sat in silence for awhile. Catherine finally finished her coffee and walked over to the break room sink to wash her cup out. As she stood, letting the warm water wash over her hands and the mug, she finally asked Nick the question she had wanted to know.

"So, do you love her?"

Nick looked up. He had thought the subject was dropped. Something in him, however, really wanted to voice what he had been thinking all evening.

"I really do, Cath." He said sadly.

"Well, then why didn't you tell her that?" She asked confused as to why guys had such a hard time expressing their real feelings.

"I don't know. I guess I was scared. I just know that if this thing between her and I doesn't work…I don't know if I could ever get over her." He finished.

She looked at him in understanding. She had had her heart broken many a time, and she knew what it was like to love someone that deeply. Eddie had cheated on her, and she had never stopped loving him, even after he died.

"You know, Nick, I'm sure Kaitlin would like to hear this." She stated.

"I don't know. I think I have officially screwed up this relationship for good."

"You never know, Nick. If she loves you like she says she does, then the chance that she'll forgive you is pretty good." She patted him on the shoulder as she sat back in the chair she had previously occupied.

"Is this coming from past experience?" Nick asked, wondering how she knew so much about relationships.

"Not necessarily." Catherine replied, hoping to keep the topic of conversation on Nick and not on her.

"What am I gonna say to her?" Nick asked after several minutes of silence.

"Just tell her the truth. Tell her that you love her. Don't make any excuses for what you did, that will just piss her off. Just be straight forward and she'll appreciate that."

Grissom walked into the break room. He noticed the somber mood in the break room, but decided to ignore it. He wasn't very good at personal conversations.

"How's Sara doing Grissom?" Catherine asked. Even though she and Sara had never really seen eye to eye, she still cared about her. She was a part of the team and when one part of the team hurt, the rest of the team hurt as well.

"She's stable." He replied. He had been hurting since that day he had found her under the car. Truth was there was still no progress in her condition.

"That's good. No news is better than bad news." Nick said, temporarily forgetting about his own problems. Sara was his friend, and even though she could be a pain in his ass sometimes, he still cared for her. She didn't deserve to be where she was.

Nick picked his phone back up once more, hoping that this time Kaitlin would answer. He got her voicemail once again. He decided that after shift, he would stop by her house to check up on her and to apologize.

* * *

He walked through the dark, wood front door. After his futile attempts at waiting for someone to answer the door with knocking, Nick decided to just walk in. He knew she was home. He had seen her car in the driveway and Brandi had told him she was at home sick. It made him sick to think that he was the reason that she was sick.

He couldn't hear a thing as he made his way through the familiar living room. He figured she was in her room, sleeping. He took in the familiar surroundings. He had been in her living room plenty of times, but he had never taken the opportunity to just look around. He figured since she was sleeping, she wasn't going anywhere. He wanted to see her living room in detail.

He approached the entertainment center. There were picture frames with pictures adorning the shelves. There were many pictures of Kaitlin, Brandi, Shannon, Nathan, Brian, and Tim. His heart did a giant flip when he noticed a picture of Kaitlin and Matt. In the picture Kaitlin was wearing a bikini and Matt was in his swimming trunks. By the looks of it, Matt was protecting Kaitlin from being thrown into the water by Nathan.

Nick continued to scan the pictures. He slowly moved his way to her bookshelf. She hadn't wanted it in her bedroom, because she frequently read in the living room. He looked over the many text books that she had kept from her years in college. She had once said that she could never sell back her books. He was the same way.

He looked at her collection of DVDs. He noticed the big, pink velvet book which housed her entire series of Sex and the City. She loved that show and had frequently made him watch it with her. He knew her favorite episode was the very last one. He remembered the first time he had watched it with her. He remembered the way her face lit up as she watched Carrie look up at Big as he entered the fancy French hotel. She could quote almost every episode word for word.

He moved to her CD collection. She hated storing her CDs in a case because she said it messed them up after a while. She preferred to store them in their original cases in her house. He pulled out the Franz Ferdinand case. He looked at the orange, yellow, and black cover. Franz Ferdinand was her favorite band. He slipped the CD back into its respective spot and pulled out another one at random. He did that for a few minutes, admiring her unique taste in music. She had introduced him to some music that he actually liked.

Nick stood up from the crouching position he had been in while examining her CDs. He knew he had to talk to Kaitlin. He had explored her living room to great lengths and he knew that the time to talk to her was now. He walked into her kitchen and filled her tea kettle with water. He placed it on the stove and waited for the water to start steaming. He wanted to talk to her, but he wanted to make sure she understood how sorry he was.

* * *

He carefully picked up the steaming cup of chamomile tea and walked toward her closed bedroom door. He slowly opened the door. He saw her covered form resting on her side. She looked beautiful when she slept.

He walked over to the chair that sat in front of her bed. He set the cup of tea on the table next to it and noticed the pill bottle. He examined the label and quickly knew that she had taken Lortab. He sighed and set the pill bottle back onto the table. There were still a lot of pills left in the bottle, this gave him the knowledge that she had not tried to overdose. He walked over to her sleeping body and looked down at her. His heart swelled and he felt his throat hurt with the anger that he had been so scared of falling in love with her. He crouched down next to her and ran his fingers over her forehead, brushing away the shorter hair that had fallen into her face as she slept.

She felt something on her face and removed her hand from under her comforter. She tried to brush away whatever it was, but was halted as she felt whatever it was grab her hand. She felt something brush over her knuckles. She slowly blinked open her eyes and saw before her the last person she expected to see in her bedroom.

Nick watched as her eyes blinked open. He smiled at her when she locked eyes with him. He loved her eyes. They were so blue and innocent. He continued to brush his thumb over her knuckles. They stayed like that for a few minutes, staring into each others' eyes. Finally Kaitlin realized the situation and sat up a little.

"Hi." Nick said softly as she rested her back on the pillow that she had propped up.

Kaitlin tried to speak, but noticed that her mouth was extremely dry from the pain killers she had ingested last night. She had slept soundly and hadn't dreamed which is exactly what she had wanted and needed. She knew that she and Nick needed to talk, but right then all she wanted was something to drink.

Nick, sensing that she was thirsty, walked over to the table beside the chair. He picked up the tea he had made her. She accepted the mug and smiled. Her stomach was feeling a little uneasy from the pain killers and she was glad he had made her chamomile tea; it had always helped settle her stomach. She sipped from it lightly, feeling the steam from the hot tea on her upper lip. She lowered the cup and placed it on her bedside table. As she did so, Nick flipped on the lamp next to her bed. Kaitlin winced a little as the light permeated her eyes.

Both were unsure what to say to the other. Nick was unsure about how to start his apology and Kaitlin was unsure how to ask him why he had remained silent. Finally Kaitlin spoke.

"What are you doing here, Nick?" Her voice was hoarse from the dryness in her mouth and she reached over to grab her tea.

"I came over to talk to you." He simply stated.

"What about?" Kaitlin asked, knowing full well what the topic was going to be. She was only unsure of where he stood on that particular topic.

"I'm sorry." Nick said, looking directly into her eyes as he said it.

"For what? For not saying anything when I told you that I loved you or for making me feel like the biggest dumb ass on the planet?" She knew her words were harsh, but he had broken her heart and she had just been woken up; she was cranky.

He winced at the honesty behind her words. "For both, I guess." Nick said as she rolled her eyes and scoffed.

"I didn't mean to not say anything, Kaitlin. It just took me a little by surprise." Nick defended and watched as she whipped her head back to stare him in the eyes.

"So, you just stood there and let me get into my car and drive away? You stood there and let me put my heart on the line, Nick, and you just stomped on it. I mean talk about adding insult to injury." She said sharply.

"I'm sorry, Kaitlin. I didn't mean for that to happen. You have to believe me." He implored of her.

"You can keep saying your sorry, Nick, but it won't take away what happened. I told you I loved you and you looked at me like I had just told you the world was really flat."

"I just hadn't expected it." He said lamely. He was starting to do exactly what Catherine had told him not to; he was making excuses. Sure to Catherine's word Kaitlin was getting pissed off.

"You hadn't expected it?! What the hell, Nick? You invited me to meet your parents, we practically live together, and you know basically everything about me! I don't tell every random guy I meet my life story and all the shit that I have had to deal with. I don't make camp at random guys' houses, and I certainly hope that you don't invite every girl you fuck back to meet your parents for Thanksgiving!" Kaitlin was full out yelling now. She was angry that he just wouldn't tell her the real reason he hadn't said anything. His excuses were bull shit and meant nothing to her.

"I know you don't, Kaitlin, and you know that I don't invite every girl back to my parents' house." Nick stood up from his position next to her bed and walked over in the direction of her bathroom. He stopped and ran his hand down his face.

Kaitlin threw the covers off of her body and walked over to where he was standing away from her. She placed her hand on his shoulder and turned him to meet her intense gaze.

"What is the real reason you didn't say it, Nick?" She asked softly. She was beginning to know the real reason, but she wanted to hear him say it.

"It's because I was scared, alright?!" He yelled. He didn't know why he was angry, but he felt frustrated that she had gotten him to admit that. He didn't like feeling weak in front of her and he felt by admitting this little detail, that he was somehow less of a man.

Kaitlin felt the tears spring into her eyes and began to will herself to hold them back. She had cried enough yesterday and she didn't feel much like a repeat.

"What were you scared of, Nick?" She asked, moving her hand from his shoulder down to his hand. She held it softly and began to graze her thumb over his knuckles as he had done to her moments ago.

Nick felt her small hand in his and he looked down to stare at their joined hands. He looked back up at her. "I was scared that if I admitted I was in love with you that I would get my heart broken. I haven't had a lot of long term girlfriends in my life, Kaitlin, and I know that if I stay with you then it is all or nothing. By denying my feelings, then I guess I felt as if I could still back out without feeling hurt. You are the most amazing woman I have ever known and when I realized that I was in love with you, I had to back off to evaluate what that entailed. I work a lot, Kaitlin. I am devoted to my job and I don't think I will be retiring for a long time. I come with a lot of baggage too. There are things in my past that have scared many girls off, and I was afraid that one of these days it would hit you how impossible I am to be with and that you would bail. I can't loose you Katie. I love you and I want to be with you, but I was scared that you wouldn't want to be with me." He concluded.

Kaitlin had listened the entire time and was shocked at how deep his mind was going. She knew that he had been scared, but she didn't think that it was that complicated. Finally she found her voice.

"Nick, I wouldn't have said that I loved you if I hadn't meant it. I know you work a lot. I know you work awkward hours and that you are frequently coming home in pissed off moods from whichever case you are working on that day. I know that you can't tell me what they are about, and I'm not sure I'll ever get used to the feeling of helplessness I feel when that happens. I know that you have a lot of baggage that you have yet to tell me about. I know all these things. I also know that I love you and that I want to be with you in spite of these things. I know that I am not going to be working as a bunny for my whole life. I know that eventually I'll have to go back to teaching and that we might not see each other as often. We'll deal with that when we're there. I'm not asking you to marry me, Nick, I am just telling you that I love you. If you don't think that I'm scared too, then you are crazy." She finished with a nervous laugh.

He looked at her and contemplated her words. She was scared too. Why was she scared? She had been the one to tell him that she loved him.

"Why are you scared?" He asked.

"I don't want what happened between Matt and me to happen between you and me." She stated simply, hoping that he would understand.

And he did. He understood completely. They were both scared of having their hearts broken. They were both scared of loosing the other. They were both scared that they would hurt each other. He looked at her in understanding and watched as a tear slid slowly down her cheek. He reached forward and wiped it away. He picked up their joined hands and kissed the palm of her hand. He held it back between his two hands and looked into her bright eyes.

"I love you, Kaitlin."

It was what she had been waiting to hear yesterday at his house. It was what she had wanted to hear since she had seen his face as she woke up that morning. She removed her hand from his grasp and stepped forward. She placed a light kiss on his lips and felt his hands snake their way around her waist.

Nick leaned forward as she pulled back and captured her lips into a searing kiss that made her feel weak in the knees. She felt uncertainty and unfamiliarity in his kiss, but she also felt his love. This new revelation was different to her. This wasn't how it had happened between her and Matt. This felt like new territory and it scared her a bit, but she knew that she wouldn't be facing that fear alone because she had Nick. She had an amazing man who loved her and would be there to hold her hand as they discovered this new feeling.


End file.
